


A War For The Ages

by Noveletta14



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Action, Adventure, F/F, F/M, Future Pandora, God-like Sirens, Humor, M/M, Siren Ideology, male siren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 11:24:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 53,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14617385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noveletta14/pseuds/Noveletta14
Summary: Pandora. The waste planet in the universe that contains psychos, bandits, killer animals, and most recently war. War has consumed Pandora. Atlas and Hyperion are working together to try and take the planet as their own. What fight against them you may ask? Rebels, warriors, and especially Vault Hunters. By now you’re wondering who the Vault Hunters and people alike are trying so desperately to kill.  Why me of course. I want to claim Pandora as my own. I have already claimed Atlas and Hyperion. It won’t be long till I have Pandora, but a group of Vault Hunters are trying a new tactic to try and defeat me. They’re trying to find a Vault in hopes it would lead to my downfall. The idiots. To punish them I trapped inside the Vault. Even after this they are still trying to fight. They’re trying to break out of the Vault. I’m just itching for them to come back. Pandora has changed so much. I can’t wait to see the expression on your faces. The thing I can’t wait for is the war they will bring. Blood will be split, violence will ensue, and death. Oh, there will be a lot of death. Yes, I have been in a lot of war, but this will be A War For The Ages.





	1. The New Pandora

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own borderlands. I own my original characters, my origin for some characters, and origins for Pandora. This story contains blood, gore, violence, and a grim and dark AU. Viewer discretion is advised.**

     There was a storm. A storm was raging inside the Vault. It wasn’t like a lightning storm or thunder storm. More like both combined with the winds of a hurricane. The winds were furious. Having speeds that could topple a person over if they weren’t careful. The pitch-black clouds in the sky spun and twisted around each other like raging waves. The clouds would have put the Vault in total darkness if it weren’t for the purple that slightly pierced through the clouds.  It gave the Vault a purple lighting. Purple lighting would dance across the sky, momentarily lighting up the Vault, but only for a second.   

    The four figures kept their heads down as they pushed through the storm. They kept their heads down as they walked. The wind pulling and tugging at their hair, as if threatening to pull it out. They carried guns, either on their waists, in hand or in a sleeve. One carried a lethal black sword. It seemed like they were walking forever. Nothing was there besides the storm and all it brought.

     Then there was a light. It was hard to see through the storm. As they got closer to the speck of light it grew. Becoming more and more visible. Soon it became a beacon of light in the chaotic darkness. Hope began to fill their hearts as they saw the ever-growing light. It was something they needed to keep pushing through the horrors. One out of the two feminine figures looked. It was the taller and bigger one.

“Does everyone see that light?” Her words seemed to be swallowed up by the storm. Regardless they all gave small nods.

“Do you think that could be are way out?” The buffer male cried turning to face the feminine figure.   

“It has to be. I don’t see anything else besides darkness.”  She then turned to face the smaller feminine figure. “Go towards the light. It might be our way out of this hellhole” she yelled. The smaller figure nodded pushing forward. So, this was it. Finally, there journey through the storm was ending. Soon, the hellish adventure would be nothing, but a nightmare.

**_CRACK!!!_  **

   A loud crack sound boomed from the heavens. Not the sound of thunder or lighting. More like a sound that was greater and seemed to drown out every other sound and carry a sharpness to it. They all looked up to see a circular opening in the clouds. In the opening was light. This light, light gold and getting bigger rather quickly than the last one. They looked upon it in horror. This light was the opposite of the other one. The white light was a signal of hope, showing them a way to safety and security. The golden light was feared. This signaled death and showed that the end was near.

“He’s coming!” the buffer male cried pointing at the sky.

“Everyone go towards the light now!” the taller women bellowed. They all began to run as fast as they could towards the light. All, but one. The female stayed. She was glaring at the glowing light, which was gradually lighting up the Vault. The smaller female turned around, noticing that the other women wasn’t following.

“Come on we don’t have all day.” She yelled running over to her older companion. She grabbed her friends arm trying to pull her forward. She didn’t budge. The smaller girl stopped pulling, looking up to the older women. “Why aren’t you moving?” the girl asked her voice one of worry. The women looked down at her. Her eyes looked sad.

“I’m not coming” she stated simply. The girl’s eyes widened. The two males stopped and turned to face their female companions.

“What is taking you so long?” the buffer male screamed, he began walking over. The girl looked at the women horrified.

“What? Why?” she cried wanting an explanation.

“Because I’m going to stall him so, you can live to see another day.” the women explained.

“But he’ll kill you. You know that” she began to cry, her tears getting swept up by the wind “and you’re the only family I have left. My parents are dead and you are my aunt. Without you I will be alone” she sobbed, not wanting her family to go away.

“Teresa!” the women bellowed as if she best the wind at making sound. She crouched down, putting her hands-on Teresa’s shoulders. By now the light was close enough to light the area of the Vault. This illuminated the women’s features. She had short brown hair, with a streak of read. A white hat with a red strip across it. She had beautiful green eyes that seemed to hold all the hope in the world. _Fiona_ looked into her niece’s brown eyes.

“Teresa I am going to die today, but you will not” when she talked she wasn’t yelling. Her voice was soft and clear. It sounded if all the other sounds didn’t exist. It was just her soothing voice. “I’m ready to die I have seen, heard, and felt many things in my life. You have only done a small fraction of what is out there in the world. All you have seen is _war_. I want you to see the brighter side of things in life” she took a pause breathing in and out. She soon continued

“and you are never alone. There are plenty of people who love and care for you, just as much as I do. Friends are family always know that.” One more pause pulling her eyes closer to Teresa’s before she continued “I am always with you. Either right by your side or a million miles away, I am with you. To show this I will give you one final gift. The gift I will give you is a chance to live and be free. Will you accept my gift?” she asked waiting for an answer.

    This was a lot to take in for Teresa. She understood what was going to happen, but she couldn’t believe. Was this how it was really going to end? With her alone, home and family destroyed. Then she repeated her aunt’s words through her head again. Her aunt was right she wasn’t alone and she never will be. Her aunt was always with her, always. She needed to live. She was only 14. Not long enough to truly feel happiness in the world. She made her decision then and there. Taking a deep breath, she looked into her one last family member emerald green eyes and said.

“I accept your gift” she answered sternly, never breaking connection with her aunt’s eyes. A smile immediately graced Fiona’s face.

“Good girl. I love you.” she said her grin growing wider. A few tears escaped her eyes.

“I love you too” Teresa smiled back, crying also. Fiona leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Teresa’s forehead. Fiona looked into her eyes on last time before yelling.

“Now go. Greatness awaits you” she then stood up and looked at the man behind Teresa. “Take care of her August” she said firmly. _August_ looked at Fiona with a determined look.

“I will and make sure to kick his ass.” he said smirking.

“Oh, I will” she said smiling back. They shook hands. “Take care partner”

“Same to you” They gave one last shake before they let go. August and Teresa turned and began walking back to the light were the last male figure said. Fiona looked at him and nodded, he nodded back. Fiona turned away from her friends and family, walking away. She looked back one last time, her last tears falling from her face, before she turned and ran. She soon disappeared in the outer darkness.

     Teresa and the other two men began to walk to the light. As they got closer it got hotter. It was just warm at first. It then became hotter. It came to the point where it felt like they were walking in one of the many deserts on Pandora on the hottest day. As it got hotter it got brighter and brighter, lighting up more of the Vault. Soon it was so bright it was as if it was daytime. Even though it was bright the white light had a different glow in the golden light. Teresa wiped off sweat that began to collect on her forehead.

“Is it getting hotter or is it just me?” she yelled. The wind was still going so they needed to yell so they could hear each other.

“It is getting hotter, but were almost to the light so, keep going.” August yelled looking at the ever-closer light. When they were about 15 feet away it became extremely hot. Where it began to hurt. It felt like the sun was right behind them. It was burning into their skin, causing extreme pain. Teresa looked up to see how close the golden light had gotten to the ground.

**BOOM!!!**

A terrific boom was heard behind them. It shook the ground, almost causing them to lose their balance. The Vault was completely light up by know.  Moments later a blast of heat and force cut through the air. The group was thrown forwards like rag dolls. The pain that the heat brought was unbearable. They screamed as the felt the heat of the sun on their skin. The wind didn’t help either, causing Teresa’s small frame to roll on the ground uncontrollably. She finally came to a stop on the hard marble floor. The Vault was plunged into darkness once again, the only light in the Vault was from the white light.

    She groaned in pain feeling the left side of her body. She immediately hissed in pain from the huge burn marks on her side. A faint yell came from the opposite direction from the light. She turned her head in that direction. She saw the faint flash of a gun going off. Fiona had survived the blast and was now fighting him. She then turned back to the light. It was so close now. She wanted to live. She began to drag her battered form to the light. Her body ached and burned. Every time her burned skin was rubbed against the floor it sent a shock of pain through her entire body. Despite herself she was going slower and slower, until she could barely move.

      She felt like she was going to die right there. The hope that once filled her heart was fading fast. She just wanted to lay there and die. A faint gunshot sound rang through the air. She then remembered her aunt fighting the all-powerful tyrant that had stared all of this. If she died today she wouldn’t be accepting her aunt’s gift and she would be letting him win. She wasn’t going to let him win. She began to push herself up with all the strength she had left.

     Her body was screaming at her stop, but she kept pushing up. She brought up her right leg, the one not severely damaged. She put most of her weight on her leg and pushed. Before she could get up a figure blocked the light from view. She looked up and smiled seeing the familiar black helmet that had a red ‘!’ on it. _Zer0_ held his hand out to Teresa. His armor was severely burned, black scorch marks were on several places on his armor. To add to the damage his helmet had a huge crack that ran on the left side. The ‘!’ soon fizzled and disappeared.

“Come on Teresa/we need to live” he said as he grabbed her hand. He pulled her up, she put all her weight on him. She felt someone hold up the other side of her body. She turned her head seeing August by her side. The left side of his clothes were destroyed. The visible skin looked like he had a horrible sunburn. His left eye was ruined. The light had permanently blinded his eye. The heat had burned the skin of leaving a mangled face.

“Let’s do this together.” he said hopefully, he gave his best smile. Together they began walking towards the light. Hope quickly returned to them. Teresa smiled once again. She had made it through this horrid nightmare. She had accepted Fiona’s gift. She closed her eyes as she felt her body be consumed by light.

**A War for The Ages**

 

     Chapter 1: The New Pandora

        Two and a half years. It has been two and a half years since they lost everything. Their family, their home, their normal life. All to that no-good tyrant. He had taken away everything. He always found new ways to make them suffer. He had taken over Atlas and Hyperion though he gave the position of CEO for Hyperion to someone else. The war seemed to never end with friends and family dying every day. The heroic Vault Hunters fighting against him had tried to stop him, by finding a Vault. They thought maybe the Vault contained a power to strike him down. They had found the Vault, but surprisingly the gigantic monster protecting it was smaller in size and power. They had entered the Vault as a group. Before they could do anything else he had come. Him and his murderous Queen. To survive Fiona, the brave leader of the Vault Hunters had used the Vault’s power. The Vault brought something else besides a monster; it brought a storm. They had tried to hide in the storm, but he easily found them. An exit had appeared. Only three out of the six had made it to the exit. They had to start their lives a new.

      The world the three Vault Hunters entered was unlike Pandora. It was covered in valleys of grass. The sky was a perfect sky blue in the day and in the night the sky was light up by many glittering stars. Forests and oceans were plenty in this world. Mountains were also a part of the terrain. New kinds of flora and fauna were everywhere. Flaming orange birds flew across the sky, while singing their songs of joy. Beautiful flowers of many colors were scattered across the landscape. It was exactly like a Utopia. Though the land looked beautiful and peaceful the Eridians were not so peaceful.

     They were a fierce race of warriors that had won many wars. Their appearance was exactly like the same Eridian that had shown on Pandora years ago. They just had different colors and features for each Eridian. They weren’t that high in technology. They didn’t have the same electricity power source Pandora had, then again this isn’t Pandora. They had something different. They seemed to have glowing crystals of different colors. Not like eridium, more electricity filled crystals. These seemed to power everything they used. Not to mention that it lite up their city. It was made from different minerals and stones put together to make strong buildings.

     When the surviving Vault Hunters first met these Eridians they were not welcoming. They were immediately attacked by them the moment they came near the city. A small group came and tried to kill them on the spot. In response, the Vault Hunters fled, not wanting the Eridians to see them as a threat. It took several months of negotiation and fighting to gain the trust of the Eridians. Once they made peace with them they were nice people. They helped them recover from their previous battle, they taught them new information unknown to Pandora, and they even gave them a place to stay, but deep down the Vault Hunters knew the truth.

      They couldn’t stay here. Utopia was the perfect place to live. With no troubles or worries, they could live happily ever after. That couldn’t happen. Pandora was at war with a _God_. They couldn’t just leave and live in paradise while everyone was fighting for their freedom. They had to go back. They told their new companions this and agreed to help them. While the Eridians worked on creating a portal to Pandora the Vault Hunters were training. Readying their bodies and minds to fight him again. They learned new techniques and obtained Eridian knowledge for two and a half years. It took two and a half years to create the portal to Pandora and the Vault Hunters were getting ready to go back to the war zone of Pandora.

**_________________________________**

       She tightened her grip on the handle on her sword. The sun was beating down on her and her opponent creating an even more tense atmosphere in the battle arena they were in. Her brown eyes were completely focused waiting for her attacker to strike.  Her light rugged brown hair was tied back in a low ponytail. Her hair went to her shoulders. She was wearing white polished armor on her chest arms and legs. Underneath her armor was a simple white T-shirt and black leggings. The sword she was holding had a smooth crystal handle; the blade was made of strong iron that ended in a sharp end. It was pointed at her opponent just waiting to strike out.

“So are going to make a move or just stand there?”

**Teresa**

**Swords ~~women~~ teen in training (only 16)**

       Her opponent scoffed, pointing his sword at her. He lunged forward swinging his black sword at her head. She brought up her sword to deflect her opponent’s strike. A ‘clang’ rang out through the air as the swords met. She jumped back and then forward. She violently swung at him several times; each time was easily blocked by her opponent. The arena filled with sparks and the sound of metal against metal. Every time she tried to land a blow on him, he would either dodge or block her strike. He swung and hit her sword with enough force to send her stumbling back. She barley had enough time to raise her weapon to deflect her opponents blow. She blocked the blow, but this caused her to lose her balance. She put her left foot back to keep herself from falling backwards. He swung at her, aiming for her face. She leaned back far enough that his blade slightly cut into her left cheek. Stepping back, she put a hand up to her bleeding cheek. She promptly wiped the blood trailing down her cheek.

 

     She immediately felt rage inside of her. She had been training for over two years. She should be able to at least harm her opponent. Yelling she blindly swung at him. It didn’t end well. He blocked the strike easily. Then he kicked her in her right knee. She then completely lost balance, but before she could hit the ground he kicked her in the chest. She fell hard on her back; her sword fell out of her hands and out of reach. She sat up and glared at him. He had pointed his sword at her chest; a red smiley face was on his black helmet.

“Three to _zero_ / I win”

**Zer0**

**Master of Swordplay and Combat**

       His smiley face disappeared. He reached out a hand to Teresa, who still was glaring at him. She sighed giving in, reaching her hand to grab his.

“I almost beat you.” she said as he pulled her up.

“Yeah almost.” he retorted. “You are getting better / Last time you lasted one minute / this time you lasted two minutes.” She had gotten better than last time and far less injuries. The problem was that it has been over two years and she still couldn’t knock her teacher on his ass.

“Yeah, I was better, but not enough to beat you.” she complained, throwing her hands in the air, “Were going back to Pandora today and how can I win a fight against a soldier if I can’t even beat you.” she sighed in defeat. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to see his face.

“Do not feel bad Teresa / It takes time to learn this skill / it took me five years to reach where I am / you have only been training for two years / not to mention your sixteen”

“He’s right you know” the male voice came from the left. They turned their heads to see a man leaning on the wall of the arena. He had short blond hair that was combined up. He also had a goatee to match his blonde hair. He had sky-blue eyes. Though he wore a black eye patch on his left eye where there was a slight discoloration in skin color. He also had a silver nose ring. He was wearing a white T-shirt with a light purple torn jacket. He had blue jeans and brown combat boots. He also had white tape on his hands.

“You have gotten better in your sword work.”

**August**

**The Bandit Vault Hunter**

       Smiling he strolled over to the pair. He shook Zer0’s hand and then turned and hugged Teresa.

“That was a good last practice before we go to Pandora. You nervous?” he asked. Was she nervous. She was terrified. The thought of going back to that war zone of a planet made her skin crawl, but she couldn’t let her uncles know that. So, she played cool. She strained up and put her best smile on.

“Nervous no. If anything, I’m excited to go back” she said still smiled. August smiled back.

“Okay miss samurai get ready to go because we’re leaving in 20 minutes so, get your stuff together and meet us at the back gate of the city.” he instructed her.

“Okay see you guys there.” she said before walking towards the exit. She disappeared behind the white doubled doors.

“She’s terrified.” August commented.

“Yeah / but she’ll make it through” Zer0 said a red smile appeared on his face.

**__________________________________**

Teresa walked through the beautiful garden. She had taken out her hair tie causing her hair to spread across her shoulders. A white band-aid was on the cheek that was cut from today’s training. She was wearing a white tank top and on top of that she a light green crop top. She had brown jeans and black boots. A bouquet of colorful flowers was held in her hands. She was walking down a stone pathway through the garden.

On the sides of the pathway were beautiful flowers of different size and color. The sun casting its beautiful rays on the garden gave it a sense of peaceful tranquility. When she got to the end of the pathway where a patch of grass lay, where a huge tree was planted. Its branches spreading over the grass creating a shadowy area for something special. She stopped in front of the tree and took in a deep breath closing her eyes. She then spoke in low voice.

“Hi, it’s me Teresa. I came to talk to you.” She opened her eyes not seeing anyone else. “Good news we’re going back to Pandora after two and a half years. I’m going to miss this place, but Pandora needs us.” No one replied.

“The truth is that I’m scared of going back. I haven’t told August or Zer0 yet. They can’t worry about me and save Pandora at the same time,” she took in a deep breath calming herself “but I know that you will be with me all the way and that gives me the determination to move on.” she looked down now “I just want to thank you for everything that you have done for me and I will return the favor by winning back Pandora.” she placed down the flowers in front of the tombstone. “Goodbye Vault Hunter.” she then stood and began to walk away. When she was some distance away she turned her head to look at the tombstone one last time. What was inscribed in the tombstone were the following words,

_Here lies,_

_Fiona,_

_Leader of the Vault Hunters_

**__________________________________________**

August, Zer0, Teresa, the leader of the Eridians, and two guards were walking along the path that leads to the portal to Pandora. They were carrying bags full of clothes and all the niceties they need for Pandora; including weapons.

“It was rather easy to make the portal once we understood matter placement.” the Eridian leader, Orm was explaining how they got the portal to work and why it took so long to work. They weren’t paying any attention to what he was saying. They were all too worried about going back to Pandora.

   When they left Pandora, they were at war with a _God_. He killed everyone, until there was just a few survivors. Six of the people that were still alive decided to find a Vault to see if it could help them in the war. Those people were Gaige, Axton, Zer0, August, Teresa, and their leader Fiona. After the events of the Vault they have not talked about what Pandora would be like.

     Their greatest hope was the war was over and they won. They would get to Pandora and go into the warm embrace of an old friend or family member. They would hear about how they won one of the great battles of Pandora.

    Their worst fear was that they lost. They would come to Pandora into the waiting arms of the enemy. That they would either be killed or sent to rot in jail.

   If the war was still going on they would join the rest of the fighters. They would either be a part of a glorious victory or die a _hero’s_ death in battle.

         Before they knew it, they were at the portal. They were at the back of the city. They were in a huge field of grass and that was where it was. It stood tall in the shilling sun. The portal looked like a Vault entrance; it was the same size as one too. It seemed to be made of the energy crystal Utopia used to power their city. The only difference it wasn’t glowing; if anything, it looked dull.  

“And that’s how we got this portal to connect to The Vault of the Tempest on Pandora.” Orm finally finished. Teresa wasn’t impressed by how it looked. The portals she usually saw had a bit more material than this one. They also had more color.

“Is this it?” she asked “It kinda just looks like an arch.” August elbowed her in the side causing her to yelp slightly.

“That’s because we haven’t turned the power on yet.” Orm said before he gestured to the two guards to turn on the machine. They flew over to either side of the portal. They then pulled out huge blue crystals the size of a big rock from underneath their armor. They brought the crystals to the arch. That area began to glow blue and the crystal arch began to reach out towards the crystals like water. It completely covered the crystals and pulled it to its self. It consumed the crystals. The arch immediately began to glow a vibrant blue. It started from the bottom but soon flowed upward like a river. Once the light connected at the of the arch there was a huge flash of light that caused them to look away. Once the light died down they looked back at the portal in awe.

         The space in the middle of the arch was filled with what looked like light blue water. It flowed downwards in slow calming motions. It also emanated a blue glow on their faces.  They couldn’t see anything past the flowing water.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Orm asked.

“It’s amazing.” August gaped.

“It is calming.” Zer0 commented. Teresa’s eyes were completely focused on the portal. This was their way back to Pandora; back to home. What could she say about it.

“Its… it’s our only hope for home.” she said still looking at the portal. August looked at her and smiled; he nudged her slightly.

“Your dang right it is.” he commented. Orm stepped forward and turned to face his soon leaving guests.

“We hope you will all be successful in your mission to bring down a tyrant. We know how hard it is to defeat a powerful enemy. You may leave when ready.” When he finished talking he stepped aside so he could allow them to leave. They didn’t move. They felt a whole lot of different emotions. Hope, joy, happiness, nervousness, _fear_. These emotions were coursing through them causing their legs to lock up. August broke the silence.

“So, this is the way back to Pandora?”

“I never thought / we would be able to go back” Zer0 said with some disbelief.

“Everyone ready to go back?” August asked looking at his two friends. Zer0 nodded looking at Teresa. She took a deep breath and looked at them.

“I’m ready” she said confidently. They began to walk towards the portal. Their hearts were beating in their chests at an extreme rate. They looked at the water of the portal with an intense stare. This was it. They way back to home and family. The happiness of going back home was greater than the fear in their guts.

_Home_ , was all they thought as they passed through the water.   

___________________________

      The Queen stood in front of a huge monitor that took up the entire wall, which showed parts of her kingdom. Four rows of long tables were in front which had computers which were people worked. Their fingers tapping on the keyboard at an impossible rate.  Her blue eyes were staring intently at the multiple scenes, just waiting for something to happen. Her light blue dress flowed gracefully around her slim body. The left sleeve was missing showing who she truly was. A crown was placed proudly upon her head. She was just watching. In truth, she would rather be doing something more exciting. The screen suddenly made a beeping noise and started to flash. Her face light up. She was finally going to get some action. Her face turned to joy to complete seriousness. The screen read

_Incoming call from…_

“Answer it.” she barked at one of the workers. He hurriedly answered the call. A man’s face appeared on the screen. It was hard to see his features as he was draped in shadows. Even though it was hard to see his face, his eyes were a dead giveaway. Every person in the room bowed their heads in respect. Even the Queen bowed her head. Even though she was The Queen, she always bowed to _The King._

“You may rise.” he spoke in a strong tone. She looked up at him with a serious look. “Hi, how is my beautiful Queen of Elpis doing?” he asked in a happier tone compared to the one before. She smiled at him showing her bleach white teeth.

“You know just watching the security cameras of my kingdom. How are you doing?” she asked back. He took in a deep breath and breathing it out.

“Just fine. Yesterday I was meeting the new recruits for Atlas. I must say Hera did a good job choosing who should join Atlas.” His tone reached one of disgust as he said, “Not choosing those incompetent workers who can barely build a working computer.”  

“Of course, she did. We wouldn’t choose a CEO that would know how to rule a company. Speaking of new recruits, I heard that the populated increased slightly on Helios. If we get too many people, we might have to make Helios bigger to fit all those people.”

“Maybe, we need all the people we can get these days. After…” he paused looking for the right words. “all that fighting we need more people.” He was silent after he said that. She cleared her throat and said.

“So, did you just call to ask how my day was or do you need something?”

“Oh yeah, do you remember The Vault of the Tempest?” he asked quietly. Her eyes widened as soon as that sentence left his mouth. The worst Vault she had ever opened.

“How could I forget?” she said solemnly.

“Of course. Well, guess what its up and running again.” she looked completely shocked.

“What do you mean ‘up and running’?” she asked.

“I mean that the Vault is activated. I don’t know how or why it is up.”

“What do you want me to do? You’re the one on Pandora.”

“Great question, shows that your listening. I want you to go to Pandora and kill any Eridian that comes out.”

“Why can’t you do it?” she asked slightly annoyed.

“Because I’m working on an important project that is none of your concern.” his tone was one of complete seriousness. “You will go right now and before I go I suggest you put your armor on. You might need it.”

“Yes my King. We will leave as soon as possible.” she said giving a small bow. He took in a deep breath smiling from ear to ear.

“Perfect.” was the last word he said before he hung up. She smiled as soon as his face disappeared from the screen. She was just asking for some action. This was the best thing that could have happened. She looked to the closest worker to her right.

“Get ships ready to go to Pandora and tell Freya to meet me in the armory.” She ordered him.

“Yes your highness.” came the reply from the worker. She spun around and walked through the double doors through on the opposite side on the monitor.

       She went to her private quarters and did a quick change from her dress to an elastic black suit that covered everything except her neck, head, right hand, and her entire left arm and shoulder. She placed her crown on her dresser and promptly walked out her room. At the speed, she walked at she made to the armory in less than a minute. She quickly went to the back of the armory to a metal door that had a hand scanner to the right. She placed her left hand on the scanner. It glowed a bright blue before the door slid open. She walked inside the room and smiled when she saw a familiar suit of armor. She walked to it and began to take pieces of armor and put them on her body. She started with her feet first. There was a loud ‘clank’ each time a piece of armor clung to her body.

“You requested to see me.” The female voice came from behind her just as she finished armoring her legs. She turned around to see the women. She looked at the women for a second before turning back around and grabbed the chest plate.

“Yes, by now you know I have been requested to go to Pandora.”

**‘Clank’**

“I would like you to stay here and watch over Elpis in my absence.”

**‘Clank’**

“Yes your highness. How long will you be gone?” The women asked.

**‘Clank’**

“If all goes well, I should be back in two days.” she answered.

**‘Clank’**

     By now she was covered in armor except for her helmet and of course her left arm.

“Are you sure you’re ready to go to Pandora? You haven’t been able to fully rest.” The women asked. The Queen picked up her helmet and stared at her reflection on it. She looked into the eyes of a person who has done and with a lot of things. She then smiled thinking of how she was going back into the fray just after a big event in history.

“I’m sure. I’ve been through worse.”

**‘Clank’**

___________________

 

      Their feet touched Pandora’s soil. The way through the portal wasn’t as glamorous as before. There wasn’t any bright flash of light that lit up the world. If anything, it felt like she passed through cool water without ever getting wet. The air had changed from cool to hot in an instant. Light was beating on their bodies. They didn’t see anything at first. Probably because their eyes were still closed.

“So,” August said shrugging his shoulders “do you guys want to open our eyes on the count on three?”   

Zer0 and Teresa said ‘Yes’ in unison.

“One, two… three!” he shouted. They all opened their eyes on three and immediately screamed in pain when the bright light hit their eyes. They rubbed their eyes to try and comfort their eyes. Though August rubbed one eye.

“Wow that is really bright light.” August cried.

“At least / we know its daytime.” Zer0 said. The burning in their eyes went away moments later.

“Okay take two.” Teresa said this time opening their slowly. “Wow.” she was surprised at how Pandora looked. It looked the same for the most part. Same dessert floor, same scolding hot sun, even the same sky. The only differences they saw on Pandora was that there wasn’t any animals or bandits. There was barely any trash or skeletons of deceased creatures and it was unnaturally quiet. There was usually the sound of Rakks screeching or bandits and psychos screaming, but there was none of that, just silence.

“Well, were back.” she quietly “Now what do we do?”

“We should go look for shelter.” August said looking around.

“Do you mean go find a cave, city, or _Sanctuary?”_ she put a point on the last word.

“Which ever one we find first.” With that they began to walk. They decided to go South. Neither of them spoke. They just back to Pandora. ‘The War Planet’ is what people called because there was so much fighting going on. Having nothing to talk about Teresa looked at the sky. She looked confused. She saw sky a beautiful, clean, blue. She stared at the sky looking to see if it was still in the sky. She gasped as she saw what she was looking for.

“Hey, look guys it’s still up there.” she said with false happiness. August and Zer0 looked up to the sky to see a familiar space station soaring above them. _Helios_ was the thing that dotted the clear blue sky. August glared at the space station.

“You think Wilhelm will go up to Helios?” he asked. “I mean how can you be the CEO of Hyperion and be on Pandora?”

“Knowing him / he is most likely to fight for himself / than have others fight for him.” Zer0 answered. Teresa began to think. If Hyperion was still on Pandora with Atlas would they notice their arrival. She was grateful that they weren’t there, but a Vault just opened they should be coming with everything they got to try and claim it. These thoughts bounced in her head as she walked.

“Hey, Teresa.” her thoughts were interrupted when she heard August’s voice. She looked up at him. His face was one of concern. “Are you okay?”

“I’m as well as I can be right now.” The tone of her voice was lower than usual.

“Aren’t we all… what you are thinking about?” He looked forward.

“I’ve been thinking about what happened while were gone. We left with most of our friends dead and _John_ leading Sanctuary by himself. I wonder if he is still alive. When you guys first met him you told me he was a wreck, until you helped him out of depression. Maybe he fell back into depression when we left and didn’t come back for over two years. I don’t see why he wouldn’t. When The Queen killed his daughter he almost became depressed. What do you think?” The question was directed at August.

He thought about it. Yes, he was a complete wreck when he first met him. He barley did anything. He would be in his room all the time; August could sometimes hear him crying and saying how bad a person he was when he walked by his door. They thought at first, they couldn’t help him. Until, his daughter decided to talk to him about the problem. She would visit her father when it was necessary. She surprised everyone when she said she would _cure_ her father of depression. She had been in his room for nearly an two hour. When she walked out the room her father walked out behind her. Since, then he found by their sides and ended being a major leader in the rebellion.

“I think he is strong enough. To come out of a depression at the time he did takes a strong person. Even after all the loss he was strong enough to continue fighting. Remember, he was the one who agreed to stay behind in Sanctuary. I bet he’s still leading Sanctuary right now.” He said the last part in a happier tune. She smiled at his words. She shouldn’t be so negative and thinking of the worst. She should start thinking on the brighter side.

“You’re right. He is strong and all the people we fight alongside are strong to. Like you and Zer0.” By now they were looking at each other smiling.

“Don’t forget your strong too. Come here!” August then grabbed Teresa and playfully put her in a headlock and ruffled her hair. They chuckled together.

“Sorry, to interrupt the touching moment / but you’ll want to see this.” August and Teresa looked at Zer0 when he spoke. They had walked on the top of a small rocky cliff. What was at the bottom of the cliff was amazing. It was a city. Not like a normal Pandoran city; with rundown buildings, trash filled streets, and insane residents. This was a shiny clean city. The buildings were made from a pristine metal with clean glass windows, the ground was made from smooth cobblestones, instead of rough dirt, colorful signs from shops gave the city color. The most surprising characteristic was the resident. The streets and buildings were filled with people. They were hard to see from afar, but they were not bandits or normal Pandorans.

“Dang, would you look at that.” August awed.

“It seems that Atlas / or Hyperion has created a city.” Zer0 said.

“Yeah, but I don’t see any Hyperion or Atlas symbol on anything” Teresa said while looking at the city. “Do you guys think we should go down to the city?”

“We could we just need to be careful.” August replied. With that they began to slowly make their way down to the city. Dust got kicked while they were walking; causing their cloths to become slightly dirty. Once they got to the bottom of the cliff and the entrance to the city they were greeted with a huge sign that had lights around.

It read ‘ _Welcome to Prosperity Junction_ ’.

   August immediately gasped. He used to do some business deals here before the war. Last, he remembered it was run down and was more like a pit of trash than a city.

“I know this place.” He said excitedly.

“You’ve been here before?” Teresa asked.

“Yes, but it never looked this clean or shinny when I was here.” He answered

“Do you think Atlas or Hyperion did this?”

“I doubt it or we would be seeing some guards around the perimeter. Maybe some people I know are still here.”

“So, then our best option is to go in / and see if anyone you know is here.” Zer0 said beginning to walk into the city. They all began to walk into the city. They were officially in the city when their feet walked on cobblestone. They decided to walk on the main street and not the side walk. They got a better look at the people. They came in all sizes, shapes, and ages. They wore clean clothes; much like Hyperion. The difference was no Hyperion logo. No matter what clothes they looked at; shirts, pants, jackets, dresses, and even shoes. They also looked at shops and signs. No logo was found.

“Looks like this isn’t the work of Hyperion.” August stated.

“Or Atlas. I don’t see their logo either.” Teresa said still looking at the people. Another thing different about the people was they weren’t armed. No one had guns, knives, or axes. Unlike August, Zer0, and Teresa. Zero had his sword on his back along with a shotgun. August had two holstered handguns. Teresa had her one sword on her back. While they were looking, they noticed some people looking at them. They did look out of place. Though they couldn’t tell if it was because of their outfits or their weapons. They came to a point where there was a large group of people walking into a building.

“Where are those people going?” Teresa asked gesturing to the group of people.

“Into that building, but what is it?” August asked looking up. The building was huge and was taller than most buildings. It was made from a whiter metal than the other buildings. Huge sign was at the top of the building.

It read ‘ _World of Curiosities_ ’ in bright colorful letters. August eyes lit up at the sight of the sign.

“I know this place. A guy named Shade runs this place.”

“Shade?” Teresa asked bewildered.

“I also have no / idea who Shade is.” Zer0 added.

“Shade was a part of one of my business deals. I want to warn you guys he can be…” August paused “strange at times.”

 “Define strange?” she asked looking at August.

“Strange as he collects human corpses and uses them as decorations.” He said simply.

“Oh.” she said nodding her head. They began walking towards the building. They went through the set of double doors once they got to it. The building looked even bigger on the inside. The white polished floor seemed to glow under the bright celling lights. Multiple glass cases full of deceased creatures lined the walls. At the end of the hallway it opened into a large circular dome. Multiple hallways were on the outside of the dome. Each hallway had a sign above it saying what the theme for the hallway. In the center of the room was a giant bullymong in a position with it roaring with all four arms out. People were looking at all the magnificent creatures on display.

“Wow.” August said shocked. “I didn’t know Shade’s place would be so popular that it got upgraded with the city.”

“Let’s go find Shade / and see if he can help us.” Zer0 said walking forward. It was hard for Teresa to look for Shade when she kept on looking at the creatures. Once they got to the bullymong she wondered how the people could kill a bullymong without causing total damage to the body.

“Oh look, new visitors.” The female voice had come from their left. They turned to see a middle-aged woman with short red hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a white pant suit with black flat bottom shoes. She wore several gold bracelets on each arm along with a necklace and earrings. The look she had on her face was stone cold; she also had her arms crossed on her chest. It seemed like she was going to stay like that when suddenly her face grew into an ear to ear smile and she cheered throwing her hands up.

“How, wonderful!”

**Shades**

**Completely Sane**

   Shades shout caused about half a dozen people stare at her, but she didn’t notice. She immediately stuck out her hand saying.

“Hello, my name is Shades I run this amazing museum.” Her tone was hyper and bouncing full of life. No one did anything at first. August spoke first.

“Um, hi my name is August. You said you run this place?” He stuck out his hand. She took it excitedly shaking it at an impossible rate. While they were shaking hands, she was staring into his blue eyes.

“I sure do!” she said enthusiastically. “I just love how it turned out!”

“But I thought Shade ran this place?” She let go of his hand at the end of his sentence. She put her hand under her chin.

“Shade?” she said this in a much quieter tone. “Shade? Shade? Shade?” her face lit up as she began to remember. “Oh, yes I remember. He was my grandfather.”

“Your grandfather.” August repeated.

“My grandfather. I got this place from my father, who got it from his father, which is my grandfather.” She began to actually take a good look at the people she was talking to. The armor, rugged appearance, weapons.

“Oh, my god!” her voice had become higher in volume like before. “You guys look like real life Vault Hunters!” Zer0 was confused by this comment.

“Why are you so overjoyed / to see Vault Hunters?” he asked confused.

“Because Vault Hunters haven’t existed in…” She stopped her own statement then continued with a new one. “You guys are real Vault Hunters I thought you guys were just in costume.” She said with raising excitement.

“Costume?” Teresa asked.

“Yeah well now technically you’re not in costume your just wearing Vault Hunter clothes because your Vault Hunters!” Shades shouted. She pointed at Teresa.

“You look like a young Vault Hunter in training!” She then pointed to August.

“You look like those rough and tumble Vault Hunters that carry one mean punch.” She then pointed to Zer0.

“And you look like one of those secret assassins.” They were all confused. Why was she excited to see Vault Hunters? They were all over the place.

“Come, Come.” She continued speaking “see what I put together for Vault Hunters.” She began to walk away and waved for them to follow. They followed her walking to one of the various hallways. There was a sign above this one in purple lights.

It read ‘ _Legendary Vault Hunters_ ’.

   The hallway they walked into was wide and it had black floors instead of white. This gave the hallway a dark appearance. What lit up the hallway was the lights brightening all the holographic statures and painted portraits of Vault Hunters and Vault Guardians on either side of the hallway. The holographic information about the Vault Hunter or weapon was floating above a sliver pedestal.

“This looks amazing!” Teresa exclaimed surprised by how much there was.

“I hoped you like it. It was my favorite place to redesign.” Shades walked a couple of pedestals before stopping at a stature of a Vault Hunter. They followed behind her and gazed upon the Vault Hunter. The male Vault Hunter had light skin. Black short hair was roughly messed up upon his head. He had piercing blue eyes that seemed cold. He was wearing what seemed to be a Hyperion guard outfit, but colors changed from yellow and red to black and light blue. The expression on his face held no happiness and his eyes seemed to be staring passed them. The hologram wasn’t tinted blue. Instead the hologram was clean picture that allowed the natural color of the picture flow through.

“This guy here” Shades gestured to the hologram “was Commander Richard of Hyperion’s Vault Hunter Group. He was one of the greatest Hyperion leaders there was.” They were at a loss for words. Hyperion, the company that was supposed to be fighting Pandora, had a museum that had a part honoring Hyperion leaders.

“What the hell are you talking about” Teresa began to shout “Hyperion is-“ she was cut off when Zer0 put his hand over her mouth.

“She was going to say that / Hyperion is amazing / in their technology.” Zer0 finished her sentence. Shades was giving him a glare much like before. A red smiley face appeared on his mask. This made her smile and continue to walk down the hall. His smiley face disappeared he turned to Teresa.

“It seems that this place might / be connected to Hyperion. We don’t her to become / suspicious of us.” Zer0 said in a hushed tone. She nodded and they continued to walk. This time they stopped a huge painting. The painting was of a Vault gate. In front of the Vault with their backs turned to them were five Vault Hunters. Behind the Vault was a gigantic Vault Guardian. It looked like a dragon. It had glowing pale eridium purple scales, black claws, and pure white eyes. The guardian had two great black horns on its head that twisted backwards. It had huge wings that were pure white. The guardian was positioned so that it was facing forward. It had its front legs on either side of the Vault. Its huge wings were spread out so far that it went off the painting. Its head was pointing slightly down to look at the Vault Hunters. Black smoke came out of its nostrils. Its mouth was open where light purple flames rolled out. The painting all together looked like Vault Hunters preparing to battle a Vault Guardian.

“This is my favorite painting of Vault Hunters and a Vault Guardian.” Shades continued “This is the Vault of Kronos. Those people down there were Hyperion’s top Vault Hunter team.” She pointed to the female Vault Hunter in the middle. “That person right there is the Queen of Elpis when she lived on Pandora.” Their thought process immediately stopped. If the Queen had somehow taken over Elpis while they were away would that mean that Pandora was already taken over? They were confused and shocked to say anything. Shades continued pointing to the Vault Guardian.

“That Vault Guardian is named Typhon. I love this picture so much because this shows an accurate depiction of Typhon and the Vault Hunters.”

“Did they defeat Typhon?” Teresa asked staring at Typhon.

“They sure did. It took forever though. I wish I was there. I would actually see one of the greatest Vault Guardians in real life.” As she began to go into detail a commotion outside the hall got Zer0’s attention. He turned to look outside the hall. He saw a group of people in uniform. They were wearing light blue metal armor that covered their entire body. The helmets they wore covered their entire head and face. Translucent blue circles of glass was on the face were the eyes would be. They wore a symbol on the left side of their chests. It wasn’t Hyperion or Atlas. It was a sky-blue circle with a white crescent moon and two white starts inside. The crescent moon was a part of the circle with the two stars next to it. They also had holsters which held shinning blue guns. They were the same style as Hyperion guns. They seemed to be looking around for something.

“Shades looks like / you got new visitors.” Zer0 said looking at the armored people. Shades stopped talking and looked at where he was looking. Her face immediately became confused.

“What is the Lunar Guard doing here?” she asked to herself. They were set into confusion once again. She began to walk out of the hallway. They followed her. Once they got out the hallway Zer0 saw the total number of people. There were fifteen of them.

“Hello Lunar Guard.” Shades and the Vault Hunters stopped in front of the bullymong. Shades stood in front of them as she addressed the guards. “I’ll like to welcome to my ‘ _World of Curiosities_ ’! May I help you in any way?” One of the male guards walking forward towards Shades.

“Miss Shades I am Corporal Grant of the Lunar Guard. I was sent here by our Queen to investigate some strange happenings on Pandora. I came here to ask you if you have seen anything unusual.” The froze. So, they did know they were here.

“Unusual!” Shades practically screeched. “I have just met something fantastic. Vault-“ before she could blurt out what she met that was so fantastic, August cut her off.

“Well, thank you Shades for this great experience” he took his had away from his mouth “but my friends must be leaving.” They began to walk away towards the exit. They were blocked by armored guards.

“Hold up.” Grants voice said to the right of them “Who are you guys?” They didn’t know how to answer that question without getting filled with bullets. Panicked Teresa quickly answered with,

“We’re tourists from… not from here.” Grant looked at them up and down.

“Not like any I’ve seen.” He said still looking at them. Then he noticed their _accessories._ He knew one thing tourists didn’t have was weapons.

“Of course, they’re not normal tourists.” Shades exclaimed “They’re legendary Vault Hunters!” His head immediately turned to stare at the Vault Hunters.

“So, they say.” He said quietly. After a moment, he spoke “We will take you all in for questioning.” He nodded to the other guards and they began to walk towards them.

“What we didn’t do anything!” she shouted at Grant. August pulled her back.

“All of you seem out of place. You might be connected to the strange happenings on Pandora.” As the guards moved forward Shades moved in front of them. She held her ups.

“Woah guys no need to take them!” She shouted. “They’re just Vault Hunters!”

“Vault Hunters don’t exist anymore.” Grant said angered, losing his calm demeaner. He quickly retained his calm demeaner when he continued with, “They shouldn’t be on Pandora or Elpis.” They were stunned, shocked, and most of all confused.

What had happened in those two and a half years they were gone?

  Shades wasn’t stunned or sad. She was upset. How dare they disrespect the greatest hunters in _history_. She signed.

“You know what Corporal you’re right.” From in her right arm sleeve she pulled out a small white remote with several small silver buttons. “Did you know that these building’s lights can also turn off?” she asked him smiling.

“What?” he said confused. She then pointed the remote upwards and pressed a button. The lights on the ceiling instantly went out. They were immediately plunged into darkness. The only light coming from hallways which slightly light the room in some areas. “Fire at the Vault Hunters!” ordered Grant. The guards followed his orders starting to grab their guns.

Shades bolted into the nearest hallway. August grabbed Teresa and ran back, while Zer0 ran forward. August and Teresa hid behind the right leg of the bullymong. The guards fired their guns at the bullymong’s leg where they were taking shelter. The room flashed with light as the guards tried to shoot their targets. Zer0 ran to the left away from the semi-circle and towards Grant. He pulled out his sword and swung at Grant’s head. He ducked and while Zer0’s sword was down he punched him on the top of his head. Surprised that he was stuck Zer0 backed up slightly. He swung at Grant again, he aimed at his chest. This time Grant didn’t fully dodge the attack and was rewarded with a scratch on his chest plate armor.

Two guards shooting at August and Teresa noticed their Corporal being attacked. They turned and started shooting at Zer0. The guards did not have bad aim. The only reason Zer0 wasn’t full of bullets is because he noticed the guards aiming at him and rolled out the way. He then ran into the closet hallway for cover. He pulled out his shotgun and began shooting at the guards. By now the guards had taken shelter behind display cases and Grant had disappeared.

August was using one handgun to shoot at the guards. It was difficult to hit a guard because when a guard stuck his head out to shoot one would take cover. By the time, August pulled the trigger the guard had ducked for cover and another one would shoot; causing him to miss his target and hit one of the displays in the museum. Then he would have to take cover from the shower of bullets that came is way. He was getting frustrated, usually guards he faced didn’t have good aim.

“I could use some help!” he shouted over the sound of bullets. He turned to Teresa who was beside him. She was just hugging onto him for dear life. “Teresa help me!” she looked up at him.

“I don’t have a gun!” she yelled back at him.

“Here!” he grabbed the gun left in his holster “Take this!” he handed her the gun.

“I didn’t have much training with a gun though.” She was staring at the gun.

“Well, here’s the short lesson point, shoot, and don’t get hit by bullets.” He turned back around and began shooting again. She grumbled and turn to shoot. She quickly ducked back when a shower of bullets came her way. She took a deep breath and tried again. This time no bullets came her way. She brought up the gun and pointed it at a guard that was focused on Zer0. She pulled the trigger. The bullet shot through the air and struck the wall behind the guard. It ricocheted off and hit the ground. She ducked again.

‘ _Nice shot’_ she said to herself sarcastically in her head. She turned again. She aimed for the closest guard. A figure jumped in front of her before she could pull the trigger. With a start, she realized in was Grant. He had been hiding in one of the hallways and in his hand, was a metal ball with one button on it. Her eyes widened as he hurled it at them. It landed next to them.

“August-“ was all she could say before the ball began to produce a thick smoke. It covered them in a matter of moments. She began to cough due to the smoke entering her lungs. She stumbled, then turned to face August. Her vision was nearing black rapidly.

“August, you okay?” she asked trying to feel for him. Her hands felt nothing. What she did feel was hard blow to the back of her head that caused her to fall to the ground. She blinked a couple of times before she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore and fell into unconsciousness.

____________________________

  August was greeted to harsh light when he opened his eye. He cringed slightly and then opened his eye more. He the sun above him; gracing him with its harsh rays. He was slightly confused at first of where he was. Then he looked down at the floor he was on was dirt. He was on his knees with his hands restrained behind his back. He also noticed that all his gear was gone. It then hit him; they were captured by the Lunar Guard to be interrogated. He looked to his right to see Zer0 and Teresa in the same position that he was in. They were both awake. He then looked around seeing twice as many guards there was before. The had taken them out of the city and into the middle of nowhere. The guards seemed to be paying little attention to them. He turned to his friends and whispered

“Are you guys okay?” Zer0 turned to him and nodded.

“I’m fine / I just lost my train of thought and got struck.” They both looked at Teresa. She looked back at them slightly terrified.

“Besides being traumatized and a slight throbbing in my head I’m okay.”

“Sorry that was my bad.” August apologized “I couldn’t see that side of me because of my eye patch.”  

“That’s okay we all make huge mistakes in life.” It was silent for a while before she spoke again “What do we do now?” she asked in a panicked whisper. August leaned in close to them.

“What we’ll do is wait it out until their guard is down. Then we will escape and find Sanctuary.”

“Then what?” Teresa asked in a harsh whisper.

“Then we…” he paused thinking. He opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off by one of the Lunar Guards shout

“The Queen is here!” They froze and Teresa began to hyperventilate.

“Oh’ my God she’s come to kill us.” Teresa said through hurried breaths.

“We’re not sure if she’s her to kill us Teresa / Just take a deep breath.” Zer0 said trying to calm down Teresa.

She tried to straighten her breaths so she wouldn’t pass out. A thrumming sound was coming from the sky. It was like a ship coming down from the sky. When the sound got louder they all looked back to see a small blue ship coming at them. The glass in front of the plane revealed two guards; one steering and one looking at the controls. It started to slow down coming in close. It flew over them creating huge gusts of wind. They saw on each side of the plane there was the same symbol there was on the guards. The plane hovered a few meters in front of them. The wheels came out of the bottom of the plane. When it touched the ground the plane began to quiet down before it became silent. It had landed with the front facing away from them and the back of the plane facing them.

The guards had made two separate lines facing each other. The prisoners were at the end and the plane was at the other end. The back of the plane opened and stopped when it touched the ground. Metallic footsteps were heard from the inside of the plane. Two lunar guards came out from the plane and behind them was The Queen. The two guards joined one of the two lines while The Queen continued to walk in between the guards. As she walked past her guards they bowed; showing their queen respect. She got to the end of the line were glared at the Vault Hunters.

Her body was covered in silver metal armor that gleamed in the sun. Her helmet covered her head. The helmet had empty circles were her eyes were. Her eyes were an enchanting blue. The helmet also had an empty spot for her hair to come out in a long high ponytail. Her hair was a light sky blue that got lighter as it got to the end. On the left side of her chest was her symbol. The only difference was the symbol seemed to be made of crystal and not metal. The most ousting part of her was her left arm. Her armor didn’t cover her arm exposing it to the world. Tattoos were graced her arm. They were same blue as her eyes. They weren’t random markings over her skin though. They had a certain pattern to them. It was calming twists and turns that would end and start anew. The most stand out tattoo feature was the warped circle on the side of her shoulder that had a single dot in it.

**The Queen**

**Siren Ruler of Elpis**

She was taller than everybody. She looked down at them and through her helmet you could see her eyes wide for a moment before she continued her cold glare. The Vault Hunters couldn’t help but look up at her. August looked at her defiantly; he wasn’t going to let her intimidation get to him. Zer0 looked up at her with curiosity; it was either her tattoos or her eyes that made her eerily familiar. Teresa looked up at her with a mixture of fear and hatred; fear because she knew what The Queen was capable of and all the horrible ways she could end their lives. She felt hatred because of one thing The Queen did.

She killed _Angel_.

“Corporal Grant.” Her voice was sharp causing it to break the silence startle the Vault Hunters. Grant came up from his bowed position and quickly walked over to her.

“Yes your highness?” he asked her. Her eyes looked over the Vault Hunters once again before she spoke.

“Are these the people that came out of the Vault of the Tempest?” she asked never taking her eyes off them.

“Yes your highness.” He answered quickly.

“How did you subdue them?”

“My guards and the prisoners were having a gun fight. I threw a smoke bomb at the girl and blonde haired one.” He pointed at Teresa and August. “I and one of my squad members went in and took out both, while Sparta subdued the last one.” He pointed to Zer0.

“Where is Sparta now?”

“After she took out her opponent she went back to Castle Siren.”

“Probably already told him what we find.” She angrily mumbled under her breath.

“Should we kill them now?” Teresa’s eyes widened and she gulped. The Queen noticed this and purposely set her cold gaze upon Teresa. The Queen hummed in thought; rolling the question around in her head.

“No. We shall them to one of the interrogation rooms in New Haven. I will speak to them there. Is that understood?”

“Yes your highness.” Grant turned around and began barking orders to the other guards. The Queen turned around and began to walk back to the ship with two guards. Three guards came behind the Vault Hunters and directed them to the ship.

‘Oh, great’ was the last thing August thought before he and his friends were boarded on the ship, heading to New Haven.

_______________________________

 

The Vault Hunters were being lead down a hallway that had many interrogation rooms. A lunar guard was behind each one of them. The flight to New Haven hadn’t taken long. Ten minutes at most. They had taken away their weapons and probably stored them somewhere in the building. They had gone to the interrogation rooms while The Queen went to go speak to a high official in the town.

The guards stopped at a door to their left and walked inside. The interrogation room was a small sized room. The room was made from metal and painted white. A white metal table was in the center of the room. On the side of the table closest to the back was three stools. On the opposite side of the table was one stool. The wall the door was on was a long glass window for people to look inside.

“Move!” one of the guards shouted shoving August in. The rest of them followed in.  Teresa sat at the stool on the right, Zer0 sat in the middle, and August on the left. They rested their cuffed hands on the table. Two out of the three guards stayed in the room. The two guards stayed on either side of the glass while the other was on the opposite side of the glass watching them.

The guard on the outside turned to right and gave a quick bow. The guard seemed to be talking to somebody out of view. The door opened moments later. The Queen walked through closing the door behind her. She sat in the stool in front of the Vault Hunters. She didn’t say anything at first. She was taking deep breaths. Through her helmet, they could see her eyes were closed. Then suddenly she straitened up and her eyes flew open. Her cold glare was upon them once again.

“So…” her voice seemed to carry power behind it. “you three are the ones that activated the Vault of the Tempest.” She laughed “I expected something different than three normal people. Well, I guess I just had my standards up high. Okay, who is the leader of this little outfit?” She asked them.

The question was a hard one to answer. They technically didn’t have a leader. They were a group and treated each other equally.

“I am.” August had spoken. He had answered because when they were in Sanctuary August had the highest rank out of all of them. Her gaze went August.

“What is your name?”

“August.” His voice was firm; showing no fear.

“What are your names? For clarity’s sake.” She gestured to Teresa and Zer0.

“Zer0.” He answered in a monotone voice.

“Teresa.” She tried to answer in a strong voice. What came out was a squeak. The Queen chuckled.

“Well, August how and why did you come out of the Vault?”

“We were trapped inside the Vault,” August decided to play along “so naturally we wanted to escape.”

“Were you trapped in the Vault by accident or did somebody put you there?”

“It was no accident that we were trapped in that Vault. Actually, you should know who trapped us?”

“Oh” She raised an eyebrow under her helmet.

“Yes, you should know because you were there with him when it happened!” August shouted the last part. She didn’t say anything at first, but then she began to laugh. She through her head back and a happy laugh escaped her lips.

“Oh,” she said still laughing “I remember know.” She immediately stopped laughing and her became colder. “You all are the traitors that tried to kill me and our King.” She hissed.

“Your King / If you mind.” Zer0 commented. She looked to glare at him. “In my eyes / I never saw him as one to follow / but as one that needed to be put down”

“How dare you speak of our King as if he is an animal!” She growled. “If anything, you are the vermin that need to be purged from this world.”

“Your King has killed more people than we ever will in a lifetime / He talks about bring peace when he goes and slaughters cities / because they disagree with him / Some King.” Zer0 was upset because they believed they could rule Pandora at the expense of others.

“At least he tries to bring _order_ to Pandora. All you bandits, maniacs, and Vault Hunters made Pandora a cesspit of chaos. We tried to make it so children didn’t lose their parents to some maniac with a gun. In order to do that the people that didn’t submit had to perish to not cause trouble.” The Queen was upset because they couldn’t see how they ruined Pandora.

“You truly believe that you get to decide who dies and who lives / You are deluded if you think you are able to control life and bring peace / You don’t bring peace you bring war, death, and destruction/ We would never bow to monsters of such magnitude”

The table was flung to the side. A loud booming sound echoed as it hit the metal table hit the floor at the other side if the room. The Queen was looming over them. She was standing over them looking down. Her dark shadow was upon them. Her helmet features were shadowed; her eyes were glowing blue and narrowed. Her glare was more than just a glare. It was a death scare.

“Leave us!” she screamed still looking at her victims. The guards that were in the room left and stood outside. The glass window was darkened to a pitch black.

“So…” her voice was low and threating “you all wouldn’t bow to me even if I broke every bone in your body and had you begging for mercy in a pathetic heap. Even if I gouged out your eyes and watched you stumble around like a blind dog. Even if I made you puke up every organ in your body.” She leaned in close as she said, “Even if I make you watch everything you love and care for burn in eternal flames you will not bow to me?” Zer0 straighten up and met her stare.

“ _Never.”_ his one word spoke for all of them. This is the part where they die. All of their other friends and family perished either standing up to The Queen or The King. After a moment, The Queen stepped to their surprise. She straightened up and looked down at them again. Only this time hate didn’t fill her eyes. It was amassment. Her hand began to reach up towards her helmet. There was a ‘click’ sound as she pulled of her helmet. Her ponytail came undone and her hair fell down. Her hair was extremely long, it curled slightly from being in a ponytail, and the roots of her hair was a deep blue compared to her ends. Her face was a picture of divinity. Her blue eyes were clearly visible and were brighter without her helmet. Her skin was flawless. She wore blue lipstick; the same vibrant color of her eyes. Three blue dots were under her left eye; similar to her tattoos. She put her helmet down on the ground and stepped forward. While August and Teresa stared at her in confusion, Zer0 started at her with disbelief. Right in front of him was a friend he long thought was dead.

“Well, it turns out your still the outstanding warrior you were all that time ago.” She smiled.

**Maya**

**The Warrior Siren**

“I thought you were dead.” Was all Zer0 could say in a low voice.

“Same to you.” She sighed. It was silent for a moment.

“Who / won? He said simply. She closed her eyes and said solemnly.

“We won a few days after you were trapped.”

So, that one sentence answered their question. They had lost just after a few days after they were trapped. Teresa tried to hold back her feelings of sadness. August looked down his hands becoming fists. Zer0 continued to look at Maya. She opened her eyes.

 “I was wondering when you were going to ask me.” Maya gave a gentle smile. The smile was ruined when August stood up and punched Maya in the face. It felt like punching a brick wall. He hissed in pain looking at his hurt hand. Her face wasn’t one of pain more like ‘did you just hit me?’. Zer0 grabbed August and pulled him down.

“Don’t August / I know her” Zer0 told him. August and Teresa’s eyes widened.

“What do mean you know her?” August questioned.

“Do you remember when I told you the story of The Vault of the Warrior / and I talked about the / Vault Hunters I was with?” they nodded, “She is the siren I told you about / Maya.” He gestured to the siren. There jaws dropped.

“You said Maya was dead.” August said.

“I thought she was dead / Apparently, she isn’t” Zer0 answered.  Teresa was utterly upset.

“How could you have been friends with her?” she shouted upset. Zer0 cocked his head.

“What do you mean / Teresa?” he asked.

“Did you guys forget what she did? Because of her we lost the war and worst of all she killed Angel and then just walked away as if it was nothing.” She looked directly at Maya. Her rage blinded her fear. “How could you do something like that?” Maya’s expression was emotionless. They all looked at her for an answer. She closed your eyes and took a deep breath. She opened them again and looked Teresa in the eye.

“Teresa, I know how you think of me. I didn’t see any use in fighting back. I didn’t see any hope. He made me believe that we could change Pandora by taking the lives of others. I threatened you in the beginning to see if you still believed what you did all that time ago. I’m sorry I wouldn’t have done… all of this if I knew there was still hope left.” She got down to Teresa’s level.

“And I know how much you cared about Angel. She helped us during The Vault of the Warrior. She guided us through the most dangerous parts of our quest. She was such a good person. When he told me to go out and kill Angel I didn’t want to do it… at first.”

“Then why…” Teresa had a hard time getting the words out, “Why kill her?”

“Because I saw what she had become. I remember seeing her for the first time after The Vault of the Warrior. She was consumed by _war_. Her eyes were full of hatred and despise. She was so eager to kill me. I couldn’t believe it. I remember her telling me to go to hell. Then I knew I wasn’t killing an _angel_ , but a monster of war. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to help her or any of you when you needed it.” She stepped back and looked at her sadly.

“After all the terrible things, I’ve done through the _ages_ she is the one I that I regret.” Teresa took what she said into consideration. Did she not see the monster Angel had become? Zer0 was confused by Maya’s choice of words.

“Why did you use / the word _ages?”_ he asked. “It has only been two and a half years since we were trapped.” Maya looked at him confused. Then she smiled.

“Two and a half years.” she chuckled, “Yeah right.” They looked at her like she told a joke they didn’t get. Her smiled vanished and was replaced with surprise. “Oh, you don’t know. In the Vault, it might have felt like two and a half years, but here.” She bit her lip and her words had a touch of worry.

“You all were trapped in the Vault _two hundred fifty years ago_.”


	2. Sanctuary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own borderlands. I own my original characters, my origin for some characters, and origins for Pandora. This story contains blood, gore, violence, and a grim and dark AU. Viewer discretion is advised.

Teresa tried to process the information given to her. Two hundred fifty years. **Two hundred fifty years.** Her brain couldn’t comprehend that fact. That was way too long to be gone. That couldn’t be true. Zer0 and Teresa had gone silent in shock, but August sure didn’t.

“What do you mean two hundred fifty years?” He screamed.

“I mean you have been gone two hundred fifty years.” Maya replied to August’s shout. “I know that is hard to believe, but it’s true. Didn’t you guys notice how different Pandora is?” It made sense. Everything they saw on Pandora was changed in such a way that you wouldn’t know it was Pandora.

“I guess it makes sense. It’s just that…” he tried to get the words out. “How?”

“I guess time goes slower in the Vault and time goes faster here. I didn’t know that time passes differently in the Vault.” She explained. “That’s why I thought you were dead.” There was silence for a moment.

“You said you won, right?” Teresa asked. Maya nodded. “Then what happened to John and Sanctuary?”

“After Sanctuary was defeated the King didn’t want the city to stand so, he knocked it out of the sky. Only rubble was left. As for John, the King defeated him. He didn’t kill him like I thought he would. He captured him instead. I don’t know what the King did with him, but he is probably dead by know.” Maya explained simply.

“Well, you put that lightly.” Teresa said sarcastically.

“Sorry. I’m just used to handling bad news by now.”  

“Wait” Zer0 spoke up, “How are / you still alive?” He asked with curiosity.

“Yeah, why is that?” Teresa commented. Maya sighed. She lifted her tattooed hand and looked at it.

“I’m still alive because I’m a siren. As it turns out sirens are immortal.”

“What do you mean by immortal?” August asked.

“Meaning sirens live forever. One of the unknown perks of being a siren. Actually,” she looked at them, “there is a lot about sirens you guys don’t know.” They were stunned. Immortal.

Sirens were immortal.

“Hold up a second.” Teresa said. “So your telling us that your two hundred fifty years old?

“Actually I’m two hundred seventy-seven.”

“If sirens are immortal,” August said, “then why do sirens go by so quickly?”

“Well, most sirens die in complicated situations.” Maya began to explain, “Some examples: Commandant Steele, she died in her thirties; her downfall was that she got cocky during the Vault of the Destroyer and she paid with her life. Angel…” she wanted to put it in a good way.

“She died in her twenties, her downfall was that she lost what was importance of life and fell in battle. Lil…” she had a hard time getting the words out, “Lilith died in her two hundreds, her downfall was that she fought a more powerful foe and was defeated.”

“Lilith?” Teresa said tilting her head. “Who’s Lilith? If she lived that long she sounds powerful.”

“She was. She was the original leader of Sanctuary. I met her during the Vault of the Warrior.”

“Who killed her?”

“The King did when he unleashed the Warrior.”

“Wait,” August interrupted, “If he killed Lilith then why did you join him? That doesn’t make any sense.” Maya chuckled at that.

“I know. I told myself that multiple times. I came to Pandora to learn more about sirens. Lilith was the perfect role model. She was powerful, wise, and on the pretty side. She told me that she would tell me everything about sirens. When she died I felt… lost. Then the King came to me and he told me that he would tell me what it truly meant to be a siren. Since he killed Lilith and being a siren himself, I thought he could teach me more than Lilith ever could. So, I accepted and that led to so many years of war and death for me.”

“Maya” Zer0 said calmly, “What all happened / in the time we were gone?” Before Maya could answer her ECHO began to beep. She knew who it was without looking. They probably knew who it was too. She quickly picked up her helmet and put it back on her head. She looked at them and said.

“Whatever you do don’t make any noise.” She said sternly. They nodded. She pulled out her ECHO and answered it.

“Yes my King?”

“What is your status on the Vault of the Tempest?” The King’s voice came from the other end of the line. It was intense. They tried to not make any sound.

“Great news. I killed the people that came out of the Vault. I was just going to call you.”

“Wow that was fast. Must had been some wonderers. Well, I want you to come and see me at Castle Siren.”

“When?”

“Now. It is important.”

“Yes my King. I will be there as soon as possible.”

“Perfect.” The call ended. Maya took a sigh of relief.

“Wow. Are your calls always that short?” August asked.

“Yes, for the most part. Okay this is what is going to happen.” Maya began, “I’m going to go see what he wants. In the meantime, you will be in a cell. I’ll come get you when I get back. Okay?”

“That seems like a plan.” August agreed. She patted him the shoulder with her tattooed hand.

“Good. Guards to me!” she shouted. The door opened and two lunar guards came in. She turned to face her guards. “The King has requested my presence at Castle Siren. Put the prisoners in a cell. No one is to speak to them, until my return. Understood?”

“Yes your highness.” The guards answered in unison. Maya quickly walked towards the door. She glanced back for a moment before continuing walking. The guards grabbed the prisoners and began to take them to their cell.

 

It didn’t take long for them to get to their cell. They were brought back to the front of the building in a medium sized room. The room had white tiled floors, and light grey walls. There was a metal desk at the front wall of the room. Next to it a door. A middle-aged man with a black short hair, a mustache, and brown eyes, was behind the desk.  On the right side of the room were a few cells. They were brought in front of the cell closest to the desk.

The metal bars were white. It was a bigger cell than a normal. The floors were made of concreate. Two benches were on either side of the cell. One of the guards went to the desk where the man sat.

“Give me the keys to the cell.” He demanded.

“O-of course sir.” The man fumbled with the keys before he gave them to the guard. The guard walked to cell and unlocked the door. He opened it and said:

“Get in.” They obeyed and walked inside. The door slammed behind them. The guard walked back to the desk.

“They are not to leave until the Queen gets back.” He tossed the keys and the man who barely caught the keys. The guards left the room. They looked at their cell they were going to be in for a while.

“Well, might as well get comfortable.” August said then sat on the bench to the left. Teresa sat on the bench to the right and Zer0 sat cross-legged on the floor in between them. There they waited and waited and waited. It was quiet while they waited. None of them spoke. The guard watching them had made one comment saying:

“Dang, you guys are quiet. Probably because you messed with the Queen. Man, she sure is a jewel, but can be as mean as a snake when she wants to.”

They waited so long it felt like it had been hours to Teresa. By now August had begun to think of what to do when the Queen comes back. He was stuck between going to Elpis and start the fight from there or stay on Pandora and fight here.

Zer0 had begun to peacefully meditate. He was bringing his mind to fully comprehend the situation they were in. Teresa had laid on her back on the bench. She had begun to think about… where the hell was Maya.

“How long has it been?” She whined, “It’s been like three hours.”

“It’s only been thirty minutes Teresa.” August said plainly. “You can hold on for another hour or so.”

“An hour!” she cried sitting up. “I can barely stay here for half of an hour.”

“Teresa.” Zer0 said still in his meditation pose. “I know you want to get to the action / but you must be patient / She will come back soon enough”

“How can you guys stand it?”

“Because I learned / that patience is key” Zer0 answered.

“Because I’ve waited longer before.” Was August’s answer.

“Oh.” There was silence after that. Then there was a loud crashing sound, like objects hitting the ground, that came from behind the door that was opposite his desk.

“What the hell?” the guard exclaimed, jumping slightly. He stood up from his desk and walked out the door. As soon as he closed the door behind him the door next to the desk opened. They looked to see who came through the door. A person in a black hooded cloak slightly taller than Teresa walked in. The person quickly walked to the cell door, wrapped her gloved hands on the bars, leaned in and whispered:

“Are you the Vault Hunters from the Vault of the Tempest?” the voice was of a young female. They were all staring at the strange intruder. Teresa was the first to react; standing up and began walking towards the cell door.

“Umm… yes we are.” She said quietly.

“Oh, thank goodness.” The cloaked girl said relived. “I thought I was too late and that the Royals already got you.”

“How did you know we were here?” Teresa asked getting closer to the cell door.

“Let’s just say we’ve been expecting you. I’m here to get you guys out of here.”

“Wait.” August said standing up and walking to the door. “Who’s we and how did you know we were here?” he asked suspicious.

“I can’t explain right now. We have only a short amount of time before that guard comes back. Now you need to come with me.”

“So,” this time Zer0 spoke. He stood up from his meditation pose and walked to the door. “If we do go with you / where would you take us?” They were all at the door by now. Looking at the stranger.

“I will take you to _Sanctuary_.” The girl replied happily. A mix of emotions hit them. Excitement, confusion, and happiness.

“S-sanctuary?!” Teresa stuttered.

“Yes, Sanctuary.”

“Ma- the Queen told us Sanctuary was destroyed.”

“Of course, she thinks Sanctuary was destroyed because she doesn’t know we rebuilt it.” Footsteps were heard from behind the door the guard went through. “We need to go now!” the girl said worried. “Are you with me?” Before August and Zer0 could answer-

“Yes!” Teresa shouted. The girl smiled beneath her cloak.

“Great.” She said. Then she ran back to the desk, reached behind it, and grabbed a set of keys. She went back to the cell door and with a ‘click’ the door opened. They quickly went out of the cell.

“Follow me.” The girl said speed walking towards the door next to the desk. They followed her. She opened the door, which lead to a long hallway. They all jogged down the hallway. They took multiple turns. Each time they turned they were relieved to see no guard around the bend.

“Hey girl.” Teresa called out to the girl. “We have some stuff we need to get.” The girl suddenly stopped at a door to the right. She opened it revealing a small storage room. In the back of the room there was an open window. She turned to Teresa saying:

“Don’t worry. My friend already got your weapons and is outside with the car.” She gestured to the open window, “Come on that’s are way out.” They all ran to the window. Teresa was first to go through, August boosting her up. The fall to ground wasn’t that far. She landed on her feet. She looked down to see the familiar cobble stone ground of a town. She walked forward and looked around noticing they were at the back of the building and thankfully no guards. The area was empty.

 August was next., hitting the ground with a thud. Zer0 was next. He silently hit the ground. The girl was next. She closed the window behind her just as the alarm went off. Sirens were blaring and lights were flashing inside the building, alerting all guards present.

“Where’s your car?” August asked panicked.

“Don’t worry it’s just over there.” She pointed at the corner of the building. They ran there as fast as they could. They rounded the corner and saw a black jeep some yards away, hidden in shadow. Their getaway car. “There it is come on.” They sprinted once more. They were only a few feet away when they heard a guard shout.

“Stop in the name of the Queen!” They didn’t stop to acknowledge him even when bullets started to fly past them. Once they got to the jeep August opened the backseat door. Teresa jumped in followed by Zer0 then August. The girl went into the passenger seat.

“Get going Junior!” she shouted at the driver. “The guards are shooting at us!”

“Okay Twi!” he shouted back. The jeep came to life. The driver punched the gas and jeep quickly accelerated. The jeep went forwards which was where the back of the town was. It didn’t take long to get out of the town at the speed they were going out. The jeep was driving on dirt rather than cobble stone. Zer0 looked behind them and was relieved to see no one behind him. No one spoke at first. All but the driver was out of breath.

“So, Twi did you get ‘em hunters?” the male driver asked in a slight country accent.

“Sure did. That was a lot easier than I thought.” She looked behind her at the Vault Hunters. “So, what are you guy’s names?”

“Teresa.” She gave a small wave.

“August.” He said giving a small smile.

“Zer0.” He said giving a small nod.

“Wow those are some cool names. Now it’s our turn. This is our driver.” She gestured to the driver. He was a young male with very short dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a brown t-shirt with a dark green jacket. He had brown jeans and black shoes. He had brown fingerless gloves on. Upon his head was a brown cap that had some dirt on it.

“Hi ya’ll, names Junior.”

**Junior**

**Getaway Driver**

“Hi, my name is…” the girl said before she took off her cloak folded it and put it on the dash board. She also took off her gloves. She had long light magenta hair that went past her shoulders. She had eridium purple eyes and fair skin. She was wearing a dark magenta tank top with capri jeans. She wore a white scarf around her waist. She had white sneakers on her feet. What made her stand out was the eridium purple tattoos on that marked the left side of her body. The pattern they had was majestic. It was like spirals that a whirlwind would make. She had a white chain necklace. At the end of the necklace seemed to be a small chunk of eridium. The chain was wrapped around the chunk of eridium. It rested on her chest, glowing slightly.

“Twilight.”

**Twilight**

**The Teenage Siren (Age 17)**

They were surprised. A legendary siren. The second siren they had seen today.

“You’re a siren!” Teresa said surprised staring at her tattoos.

“Sure am.” Twilight said proudly.

“How old are you?” August asked curious.

“I’m only seventeen.” They were a little down by that fact, but were excited nonetheless.

“That’s almost my age.” Teresa said. “I’m sixteen.” Her eyes fell upon the eridium necklace. “Cool necklace. Is that real eridium?” she pointed at the fine jewelry. Twilight looked down at her necklace smiling.

“I think it is.” She said shrugging her shoulders, “My mother gave it to me. Its purpose isn’t to give me extra power, actually it’s to hide my power from other sirens. The reason to hide my powers is because the only two known sirens alive other than me are the King and the Queen.”

“Why would you want / to hide from the Royals?” Zer0 asked.

“Because if they find me they find Sanctuary and even if I wasn’t in Sanctuary they’d want me dead.” 

“Why would they kill you?” August asked. “You’re a siren. I thought they would want you alive.”

“Because they see me as a threat that needs to be taken out. I know this because of the incident that happened when I was ten.”

“What incident may that be?” Teresa asked.

“I took off my necklace for a moment and it lead to the massacre of my town.” The all cringed when she said that. That was just one of the terrible events that happened. How many were there in total?

“I’m sorry to hear that.” August said solemnly.

“It’s okay. I’m happy at Sanctuary.” There was a moment of silence.

“So…” Teresa began, “how did you know we were coming?” she asked awkwardly.

“Oh, we knew you guys were coming for a while.” Twilight smiled. “We just didn’t know which of you guys were coming.”

“What do you / mean by that?” Zer0 asked.

“I mean there were so many Vault Hunters in the picture we didn’t know which of you guys would be coming.”

“Picture?” August asked tilting his head. Before Twilight could answer Junior spoke:

“Were here ya’ll. Get ready to see Sanctuary.” When they looked to see Sanctuary, they saw a big dark cave. Nothing was inside. They were a little of put by this.

“Uh, where is Sanctuary?” Teresa asked.

“It’s hidden in the cave, don’t worry.” Twilight assured her. Junior turned the headlights on as they entered the dark cave. The ground was bumpy causing the jeep to bounce. Junior drove behind a big cave rock once they were deep enough inside the cave. He stopped the jeep and turned it off.

“We need to walk the rest to Sanctuary.” He said getting out the jeep. They all got out of the jeep. When they closed their doors, they sound created echoed through the cave. They couldn’t see anything in the dark. The only source of light came from Twilights necklace. Junior pulled out a flashlight from his back pocket and turned it on. His flashlight lite up the area they were in, showing rocks, crystallites, and thankfully no deadly animals.

“This way.” He pointed some distance away to a hole on one of the walls of the cave. They began to walk towards it with Junior leading the way. Once they got closer the Vault Hunters realized that inside the whole was a black metal door. Twilight walked to the door and placed her tattooed on the center of the door. A red grid appeared where her hand touched the door. The door scanned her hand and after it was done the grid turned green and gave a happy beep. Turning gears sounded from the door. Then a clicking sounded as the door opened. Junior turned off the flashlight making the only light come from the cracked open door. She looked at them.

“You guys ready to see Sanctuary?” she asked excited.

“Hell yeah!” August said. She then pushed the door open and a bright light filled the cave.

* * *

 

Maya walked through the hallways of Castle Siren. She had taken off her helmet causing her long hair to bounce and she took each step. She looked at the dark color theme of the castle; black and grey. The only bright color was golden yellow. This was the Kings castle. The castle had a feeling to it. She could sense the pure energy that came from the walls and floor. He had designed this castle to represent himself. _Complete power_.

She frowned slightly at this. She had designed her castle, Castle Tempest, to have several shades of blue; much like her hair. She also designed it to be more open to her subjects. Her castle didn’t have the feeling the King’s castle radiated. When you were in Castle Tempest you felt welcomed and safe. For she radiated a different feeling than the King.

She came to a spiral staircase that lead to the King’s personal chambers. As she began her ascent up the staircase she began to think.

“ _Okay,”_ she thought in her head, _“I need to fully convince him I killed them. I can’t let him know that the Vault Hunters came out the Vault. Once I get to the Vault Hunters I will take them to Elpis.”_  A voice in the back of her head said,

“ _What if the King finds out that you have the Vault Hunters on Elpis. He’ll kill them.”_ She thought of a way to fix that.

“ _I’ll convince them to go into hiding. Problemed solved.”_ The small voice came back saying,

“ _By doing this you will betray the King. He will want you dead, which will lead to another war.”_ She cringed at that thought. She didn’t want another war. She had lost enough from the last one. That and fighting the King would be suicide. She saw him kill an entire army in a single day.

“ _I can’t fight the King. Lilith tried to fight him and-“_ she cut herself off, “ _No. Don’t think about her. You hadn’t thought about her in years, don’t think about her now.”_  

She stopped thinking when she reached the top of the stairs. There was a small platform that led to a huge set of black double doors with light golden yellow trimming. A guard stood on either side of the door. They weren’t from her Lunar Guard. They were the King’s Imperial Garrison.

Their armor color theme was the same as the castle, black, grey, and gold. The under suit was grey. The metal armor was black. The armor had golden yellow trimmings. Their helmets were black. The only bright colors on their uniforms beside the trimming was the gold circles for their eyes and the King’s symbol on the left side of their chest. It looked like the Vault symbol, but it didn’t have a circle around it, just the arch, and it was the same bright golden yellow as everything else.

The guards looked at her before giving her a small bow. She knew they didn’t really mean it as much her guards did. They were loyal to the King. She walked up to the door and knocked on it.

“Who is it?” The King’s booming voice came from the other side of the door.

“Queen Maya your highness.” She answered. There was a moment of silence.

“Come in.” he said finally. She put her hands on the door handles and pushed the door open. She quickly walked in and closed the door behind her. The King’s personal chamber was very dark. No lights where turned on. The floor was a black tile and the walls were black also. The ceiling was black, but a picture of his symbol took up most it. Besides the room being dark it was massive.

Though not many things filled the room, leaving lots of empty space. On the wall, with the door was a huge oval mirror with a silver metal frame. The frame had designs such as spirals and sharp edges.  A King-sized bed was placed against the back wall. The covers were black, the pillows were gold, and the bed frame was grey. On the wall opposite the door was a black desk and grey chair. Next to that was a book shelf that contained some of the world’s greatest knowledge.

The King wasn’t at any of those places.

On the wall opposite the bed was a glass door that led to the balcony. The door was closed and the black curtains were pulled back enough that a stream of sunlight came through. The King stood in front of the door. The stream of sunlight danced across his face and his chest. He hadn’t turned to acknowledge her. He was still like a statue his eyes staring into the outside world.

“You wanted to see me?” she said in a less formal tone. She only acted formal when she was in public. He took a deep breath and exhaled.

“Hello, Maya.” He didn’t turn around as he spoke in a quiet tone that he barely used. “The Queen of Elpis and The Warrior Siren of centuries.” She was slightly confused though she didn’t show it. The second name he said was the title people gave her during _war_ times. “You have made those titles for yourself over the years. How did you earn those titles?”

“I _earned_ the first one by conquering Elpis and claiming it as my own. The second one was _given_ to me because I was strongest siren on the battlefield, excluding you. Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering if you remembered how you got them. It’s been such a long time since I claimed Pandora and you joined me. It’s been what? Over two hundred years and I remember every single detail that happened. From the most joyous events to the goriest of battlefields. I remember it all. I want to know if you can remember.” He sighed before continuing, “Remember the second war against Sanctuary?”

“Of course, I do. It was my first true war. I began training to better use my powers.”

“Perfect. Do you remember the first person I told you to kill?”

“Yes, I do. It was Angel. Why are you asking me this? That happened over a century ago.”

“Do not question, just answer. Do you remember what happened that day and what had become of Angel?”

“Yes, I do remember. I remember Angel talking to the Vault Hunters and I during the Vault of the Warrior. At first, she sounded so gentle and caring, at the end she lost it. What I didn’t expect is that she messed up her body. She had replaced some of her body parts, like her arm and eye, with mechanics. Actually, she looked like a female version of you with her cybernetics.” He smiled when she said that.

“Besides her cybernetics, her personality was one of a killer. She was so excited to _kill_. She was a completely different person… I remember her falling after I beat her and I tried to save her. I grabbed her mechanic hand to stop her from falling into flames.

“She tried to cut my throat.

“I let her fall and die. I felt… happy when I ended her life. I ended her suffering and the suffering she caused to others.” She felt saddened after having to relive the memory. “You me told that she was like your daughter. Did you feel anything when I killed her?” he didn’t say anything at first; processing the question in his head then he spoke:

“Yes, I did feel something. I felt… a part of my history be erased. Which in case you don’t now is a good feeling for me.” He took a deep breath and continued, “But the Vault Hunters obviously didn’t feel the same way. To them this was another wakeup call that any of them could die, so they tried to up their game. They actually tried,” he began to chuckle, “to find a Vault in hopes of stopping me.” He laughed. She didn’t like where this was going. “Do you remember the Vault Hunters that were there?”

“I do. They were Axton, Gaige,” she gulped, “Fiona… August, Zer0 and Teresa. All of them died in the Vault of the Tempest. Why are we talking about dead people?”

“Because not all of them are dead. Aren’t they Maya?” He turned to face her.

“W-what do you mean?” she stuttered.

“You know exactly what I mean. Did you really think I didn’t know who came out the Vault? I thought you knew me better than that. The stupid thing you did was that you tried to hide them from me. I thought we trusted each other Maya.”

“Rh-“ he was suddenly in front of her. He was taller than her. She only went to his shoulder. He put his hands on her shoulders. His tattooed hand felt warm while his mechanic hand felt cold. He towed over her and her glare was nothing compared to his. She felt _fear._  

“Maya if you weren’t the Queen of Elpis you would be dead right now. I have mercy on you and I will give you a chance to redeem yourself by telling me where they are.” He waited for her answer. She could have defied him, telling him ‘no’. She could have protected them from the King’s rath. Then a thought went through her mind.

‘ _They’re going die either way’_

She would either not tell the King, he kills her, and then goes and kills the Vault Hunters or she rats them out he finds them and kills them. If she rats them out she lives. She bowed her head in shame.

“I… I left them at the Sheriff’s station in New Haven.” She answered in a low tone. He chuckled.

“Great now-“ he was interrupted by her ECHO beeping. “You should answer that.” She grabbed her ECHO and answered it. Grant appeared on the screen.

“What is it Corporal Grant?” she asked.

“We have a situation at New Haven.” He said calmly.

“What is the situation?”

“The Vault Hunters have escaped. What should we do?” The King grumbled obviously upset.

“Maya please tell me you have a way to find them.” She nodded.

“I do. I put a tracker on August before I left.” She looked at Grant. “I have a way to find them wait for me to get there and we shall find the Vault Hunters.”

“Yes your highness.” Was the last thing Grant said before hanging up.

“Okay,” she said beginning to walk towards the door, “I’m going to get the Vault Hunters and bring them to you.”

“No,” the King said abruptly. She stopped and turned to face him. “The guards of the Imperial Garrison will go with you and so will I.” her eyes widened.

“You barely leave the castle. Why do you want-“ she cut herself off as she found her answer. “Oh, you’re going to kill them, aren’t you?”

“Bingo.” he ran his fingers through his hair. He walked past her and to the door. He opened it and took a deep breath. “I needed to get out anyway.”

* * *

The bright light died down enough for them to see Sanctuary. They gasped in awe as they saw Sanctuary. It was a giant underground city. The city looked primitive. Especially because there was no technology anywhere. The buildings were made out of rocks, wood, glass, etc. The ground was dirt instead of the cobblestone floor they had seen in other towns. Massive fires were on the ceiling, but seemed to be inside giant light bulbs.  They gave the city enough light to see as if it were the afternoon. At the center of Sanctuary was biggest building. It wasn’t made out rocks. It made out of a variety of types and colors of metal. People were everywhere. Their attire was one of an original Pandoran. They walked through streets, in and out of buildings, and in groups talking. Children played in the streets, laughing.  Junior closed the door behind them. The door automatically locked itself.

“Welcome to Sanctuary.” Twilight said gesturing to the city.

“This is Sanctuary!” Teresa gasped.

“Sure is.” Junior said. “Do ya like it?”

“I think it is amazing! What do you guys think?” she asked her fellow Vault Hunters.

“I think it’s looks just as good as the old Sanctuary.” August said.

“I find / it beautiful” was Zer0’s answer.

“Great,” Twilight said, “we’ll take you to Head Quarters so you can meet Sanctuary’s leader, Carter. He’ll be expecting company.” They began walking down to the people filled streets. Once they got close enough for people to notice their presence people began to call out.

“Look their back!” one man shouted.

“They brought new people with them.” A woman called out. By now they were surrounded by people. Some asked questions while others just stared. Zer0 felt some staring at him to the right. He looked to see a little girl with big blue eyes and blonde hair staring at him. He gave a small wave and the little girl waved back.

“Okay let me get through!” a male voice shouted from the back of the crowd. The crowd moved aside as a large man with muscles and dark clothes walked through along with a short brunette female. He looked at the group in front of him and smiled.

“Great you’re back,” the female spoke.

“And with the Vault Hunters too.” The male said. Twilight looked to the girl and said:

“Cindy could you get our stuff from the car?”

“Sure thing.” The girl said and walked to the exit.

“Come this way to HQ.” the man said gesturing to the large building. “Carter is waiting for you.”

He turned towards HQ. They followed him; getting a closer look at the city. Zer0 noticed how there was no technology anywhere.  Since they were in the future shouldn’t there be technology everywhere?

“Why is there / no technology here?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Teresa said. “If we’re in the future shouldn’t there be flying cars and robots.” Junior chuckled.

“Cause,” he said, “the King’s one of them cyborgs and is connected to every mechanical thang on Pandora. So, if we have internet or anythang mechanical he can trace it. If he found us we would already be dead.”

“He’s gotten that powerful.” August said. “Wow, didn’t realize how strong he is.”

“The King.” Twilight said. “Yeah, that’s why we don’t fight him. In the past wars, he has won. If we decide to fight him how would we succeed where others had failed.” That put a big dent in the Vault Hunters hope of killing the King. “But now that’s changed now that you’re here. The note from the one of the old leaders of Sanctuary prophesized it.”

“Which leader are we talking about?” Teresa asked.

“Umm… I think it was Fiona. Does that name ring a bell?”

“Does it ring a bell? That’s my aunt!” she was getting excited.

“That’s great. Once we get to Carter you’ll be able to see the note she left and the other stuff she left.” By now they had reached HQ. They walked through the front door of the huge building. The HQ looked almost the same the last time they saw it. They were lead down the main hallway. They turned a corner and saw stairs. Teresa groaned. They claimed up the ‘enormous’ set of stairs they walked down one more hallway to a brown wooden door. The muscular man knocked on the door.

“Come in.” a smooth male voice came from behind the door. The man opened the door.

“Carter, Twilight, and Junior are here along with the… Vault Hunters.”

“Great. Bring them in.” The man went to the side to let them come into the office. Once they were in the office the man left closing the door behind him. The office wasn’t huge, it was rather small. The floor was made out of the brighter colored metals and so were the walls. The desk at the back of the room looked like an old desk taken apart then put back together. There was a big window behind the desk with the curtains closed. The lights on the ceiling caused many glares in the metal room.

Carter was seating behind the desk. He was an older man with tied back raven black hair with a couple of silver streaks. He also had a small amount of facial hair. He had kind brown eyes and broad shoulders. He was wearing an old brown shirt with a black leather jacket. The rest of his attire was hidden by the desk. He put down the papers he had been working on and smiled.

“Hello, Vault Hunters it’s nice to finally meet you. My name is Carter.”

**Carter**

**The Present Leader of Sanctuary**

He greeted the Vault Hunters.

“I hope Twilight and Junior were kind to you guys.”

“They were.” August said holding out his hand. “Names August.” Carter took his hand saying,

“Nice to meet you August.” They let go of each other’s hand. Zer0 stepped forward.

“Zer0.” He said putting out his hand. He shook hands with Carter and pulled away. Teresa walked forward with her hand out.

“My name is Teresa.” They shook hands and pulled away.

“Well, now that we introduced ourselves let’s get to business.” Carter said immediately wanting to get to the point. “I do believe that you all are the Vault Hunters from centuries ago. Because you just got back you all probably have questions, but before you ask questions I have some questions of my own. First question is how were you trapped in the Vault?” That was an easy question for August to answer.

“We were trapped in there by the King when we found it.”

“Where did you go when trapped in the Vault?” this time Zer0 answered.

“We walked through a portal / and ended up in an / Eridian civilization named Utopia”

“How did you get back to Pandora from ‘Utopia’?” It was Teresa’s turn to answer.

“We befriended the Eridians living there and they built us a portal to get back here.” Carter was silent for a movement before speaking:

“So, to sum things up you were trapped in the Vault by the King centuries ago. You went to ‘Utopia’ and met Eridians that helped you get back to Pandora. I’m guessing time is different there than it is here. Am I correct?”

“Yep.” Teresa said. “That about sums it up.”

“Great now that’s out the way you may ask questions.” Zer0 asked first.

“How long has / Sanctuary been here?”

“I’m not exactly sure when. I was told that decades after the fall of Sanctuary some people found the remains of Sanctuary. They took those remains to make the base of Sanctuary. Which is why this is the only building made out of metal.”

“What kind of remains did they find?” Teresa asked this time.

“Thye found building remains, street remains, I think they found a garage sign. The most interesting item was a chest we found.”

“Does this chest have anything to do with us?” Teresa asked.

“That chest told us everything about you guys. It told us that in time a Vault would open and this world’s saviors would come and kick the King off his throne. At first it was hard to believe. I mean overthrowing the Queen or King would be impossible. They are the strongest sirens alive; probably because they are the only sirens in the world besides Twilight.” He gestured to the young siren. Twilight scratched the back of her neck with a tattooed hand giving a small smile.

“Yeah I’m not nearly as strong enough as the King or Queen. The best I can do is a blast things with power orbs.”

“Exactly. They knew we couldn’t overthrow the Royals just by ourselves and one siren. But any chance to overthrow the King was one to take. So, we waited for like a hundred years with new leaders waiting, but I’m the leader who ended up getting the saviors for Pandora.”

“Do you still have the chest?” Teresa asked. Carter smiled.

“Of course, we do.” He went into one of his inner coat pockets and pulled out a shiny metal key. He moved the papers to the side of his desk. At the center of the desk was a keyhole. He inserted the key in the keyhole and turned it. Once he pulled the key out most of the top of the desk opened. A large metal chest began to rise up from the desk.  

Once the process finished a metal chest was upon Carter’s desk. The chest itself looked ancient. The metal had rusted causing it to look brown instead of silver. There seemed to be a symbol on the chest, but it was hard to make out.

“Here it is, the for mentioned chest.” Carter said standing up from behind the desk. They looked at it in awe. Not because of how it looked, but instead of what was inside. Carter opened the chest with a rusty squeak. Inside the chest were multiple brown leather journals with _‘FF’_ imprinted in the middle. Teresa gasped in surprise.

“These are Fiona’s journals.” Reaching in and grabbing a journal. She looked at the familiar design. She flipped through some of the pages filled with Fiona’s knowledge. “FF stands for _Fiona Faust._ Her first and last name.” She set the journal down as Carter began to rummage through the chest. He pulled out two things from the chest. A rolled up a piece of paper in one hand and a picture in a wooden frame in the other. He turned to them and handed Zer0 the picture.

“This was the only picture that was in the chest.” Carter said.

The picture was a group picture of the Vault Hunters. They had taken the picture in front of HQ. They were in two lines. At the center of the first row was Teresa.

She had never taken the field at that time, thus never saw what it was like outside of the safe zone of Sanctuary. This lead her to be happy, not knowing what it was like to be fighting. She had her favorite clothes on; a white tank top with a red rose with a black tattered leather jacket, and jeans. She had a bright smile on her face. To her right was her mother, _Sasha_.

She only went to fight if she was needed, but for the most part she supported the people in Sanctuary. Sasha had brown hair that was put into beautiful dreadlocks. She had a multi-colored headband on. She had vibrant green eyes. She wore a silky red sleeveless shirt with one vertical white strip on the side with a turquoise throw over. She had a white utility belt on her waist. She had on navy blue pants. She had fingerless turquoise gloves that went to her elbows. She had a genuine smile on her face. She had an arm around her daughter’s shoulder. To Teresa’s left was her father, _Vaughn_.

He never went to fight. He was the second in command of all Sanctuary. He kept everyone organized and safe. He had brown hair that was tied back in a bun, he also had a beard. He had soft light blue eyes. Teresa always wondered why she had brown eyes when her other family members didn’t have brown eyes. He wore a tattered beige short sleeved shirt with a black vest. He wore a coral green scarf around his neck and black fingerless gloves. A small smile was across his face. He had his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. To his left was _Gaige._

She was Sanctuary’s best mechanic. _Gaige the Mechromancer_ , they called her. Her creations were used on the battlefield and in Sanctuary. Even with the war raging she still found happiness in her life. Her appearance hadn’t changed since the Vault of the Warrior. Same pigtails, same teenage clothes (even though she was older), same emerald green eyes, and same robotic arm. A goofy smile was on her face and she made a peace sign with her mechanical hand. The second row of Vault Hunters was longer. The hunter to the farthest left was _Zer0_.

He was one of the main fighters for Sanctuary. His skills in stealth were used to get as much information on the enemy as possible. He enjoyed messing with the enemy’s plans. His black armor was polished in the picture. He had a red smiley face on his helmet. To his right was _Axton_.

He was also a fighter. He still used his infamous Dahl turret on the battlefield. He came up to Sanctuary when he was needed. He had a few healing bruises over his face. He was wearing his usual mercenary outfit, minus weapons. He had a playful smile across his face. To his right was _August_.

He was one of the high-ranking people on the battlefield. He was a Captain. Being a Captain meant that he wasn’t in Sanctuary that much. His appearance in the picture had one major difference from now. He didn’t have an eyepatch. A smirk was on his face and he had his arm crossed over his chest. To his right was _Nisha_.

She was the best gunslinger on the battlefield. This earned her the title of _Lawbringer_. She was the lieutenant to the leader of Sanctuary. Being this meant she was on the battlefield most of the time and that she was a high official. Her appearance was her trade mark cowgirl outfit. She had her arm around the person to her right waist. Her hat was tilted up. A sleazy smile was on her face as she leaned against the person. The person was _Fiona_.

She was the _leader_ of Sanctuary. She spent most of the time fighting for Sanctuary on the battlefield. She was a great leader. Not to mention she was one of the strongest fighters. Though she spent most of her time fighting she still visited Sanctuary. She looked normal at first. She swore her signature hat, but her hairstyle was different; it was moved so more of her forehead showed. On her forehead was small amaranth colored tattoo in the shape of a six-pointed star. She wore closed white long sleeved jacket that had the same six-pointed star on its upper left. She leaned into Nisha. A grand smile was across her face. To her right was _Angel_.

She was always on the battlefields of Pandora. She was barely in Sanctuary. They were lucky that she was in Sanctuary at the time they took the picture. She was _the_ strongest fighter on the battlefield. To Sanctuary she was known as the _Guardian Angel_. To the enemy she was the _Angel of Death_. Her appearance changed. Her raven black hair was completely shaved on the right side and her hair cascaded down the left side; she styled it so it showed her lavender-colored left eye. A port was in the right side of her head. Her right eye was a rose-colored ECHO eye. Her left arm had lavender tattoos that followed the pattern of ragged digits and code. Her right arm was a silver mechanic arm that had the fingers sharpened to points. She was wearing her battle armor. She a sadistic smirk on her face and her hands on her hips. The last person in the picture and to her right was her father, _John_.

After he got over his depression he joined his daughter on the battlefield. He stayed close to his daughter though, meaning he spent most of his time fighting. His leadership skills had earned him the rank of Major. He was the only one left in the end. He had brown hair that was in a similar style he always had it. He had also had a small goatee. He had heterochromatic eyes; one green and one blue. He wore a dark blue zipped up jacket. Underneath the jacket he wore a yellow sweater. He a sliver ring on his left hand. He had a small smile across his face.

That concluded who was in the picture. The picture was a mixed feeling reminder of the hunters’ friends and family. They stared at the picture for a while taking in the familiar faces before setting it back down.

“We guessed,” Carter continued, “that these Vault Hunters would be the ones to come out of the Vault. We got you guys. Not that you all are disappointing.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, “I kinda hoped for the siren to come, so she could teach me what she knows… What was her name?”

“Her name was…” Teresa paused, “Angel. Didn’t you guys say that there was a letter?”

“Of course.” Carter said handing her the rolled-up paper. She took the aged paper and unrolled it. A letter written in black ink was on the paper. She looked up and down the letter. It was a long letter. She cleared her voice and began to read. As she read she imagined her voice fading and Fiona’s taking place.

“Dear future, Pandorans,

I say fut _ure because by the time you get this I would have written this over a hundred years ago. If you_ _found this then you have the power to change the fate of Pandora. So, you know_ my name _is Fiona Faust. I was the last leader of Sanctuary. ‘What was Sanctuary?’ it was the city that was in the sky and eventually fell out of the sky by the King’s hand._

_Now let me give you a lesson on the Royals; more specifically the King. He says that he is the eldest and most powerful siren in the universe. That is true. He says he that he fought his way to the rule Pandora. That is true. He says that that he has won every battle he’s been in. That is also true. He says that he is the rightful King of Pandora. That is **not** true. _

_He does not deserve to rule anything. He made something terrible. He made **war**. In war, there is always death. He will continue to create war and people will continue to die unless we stop him. I know that seems impossible, but it’s not. Even the King can **lose**. To change the fate of Pandora you need to follow my instructions and **trust** me. _

_First of all, find allies. People that are against the King; get as many as you can. Next, search through Sanctuary’s remains and use anything you can use to build a new Sanctuary. Don’t worry about finding Sanctuary, you’re already standing in its remains. While you’re building Sanctuary make sure not to use any technology. The King is connected to all technology; he’ll know what you are doing and find you. You all will die. So, be careful. I know it will be hard, but it will be worth it._

_After your done building Sanctuary, you are going to wait for the Vault Hunters to come back. These hunters are important to the fate of Pandora. They are the saviors of this world. They will fight the King and hopefully kill him. When they get here you need to get to them before the King gets to them. It might take years for them to come, but you must be patient. I have something to tell the Vault Hunters so, make sure they see this letter. My note to you Vault Hunters is-“_

There was a terrific ‘boom’ that sounded cutting off Teresa. The room shook violently causing everyone in it to almost lose their balance. The shaking soon stopped. They all looked at each other horrified.

“What the hell was that!” August shouted.

“I don’t know.” Carter said with wide eyes. The door swung open, banging against the wall. They turned to see the same man that lead them to HQ leaning in the doorframe. The only difference now was that he was covered in _blood_.

“Sir Sanctuary’s under attack!” he said through labored breaths. Carter immediately went to his window and threw open the curtains. His face went pale at all the carnage that was going on outside. His voice was barely a whisper when he spoke.

“They are here. The Royals.” He turned around. His face was one of someone trying to hold back anger. “How did they find us?” he then looked at Twilight. “Was it because of you Twilight? Did they find us because of you?” Twilight looked shocked.

“Of course, not… or I think so.” She looked down at her necklace. “I didn’t take off my necklace it couldn’t have been me.”

“I might know how / they found us” Zer0 said. “We met with the Queen earlier / She might have tracked us here” Carter took a deep breath in closing his eyes. After a moment, he opened his eyes.

“That seems possible. Now we must stop them from killing everyone in Sanctuary. Roger!” the man in the doorway straightened up.

“Sir?”

“Get as many weapons to people willing to fight and tell Kate to get as many people out of Sanctuary. Now!”

“Yes sir.” The man gave a salute and ran down the hall. Carter turned to the others.

“Get ready to fight the most powerful sirens alive.”

They all ran out the front door of HQ. They stopped at the armory to get guns; except for Carter, Zer0, and Teresa who grabbed swords. They looked around in horror at the state of Sanctuary.

Sanctuary looked like hell on Pandora. The lights on the ceiling were shattered. The burring houses and buildings produced enough light to light up Sanctuary. The streets were filled with screaming and panicking people, but not just people. The Lunar Guard and Imperial Garrison filled the streets also. They started new fires and destroyed the rest of the buildings. Most of them were _killing_ the residents of Sanctuary. No matter the gender or age they killed them. Mothers protected their children and husbands protected their wives, but no matter how hard they tried to protect they were killed. They were either shot by a guard’s gun or sliced open by the guard’s swords. It didn’t take long for the streets to fill with blood.

Twilight was feeling a sense of déjà vu. It horrified her of how similar Sanctuary looked to her town when it was attacked. Carter took one look at his surroundings and gave an order.

“We need to find the Royals! Kill as many guards as possible!” he ran forward to a group of lunar guards beating a family of three. He ran up to the closest guard who didn’t see him coming until it was too late. Carter jabbed the end of his sword in the guard’s neck. He made a horrible gurgling sound as blood poured from his neck. It wasn’t long before he fell to the ground dead. By now the other guards knew his presence and backed away from the family. He quickly checked to see if the family was okay. They were dead. The guards aimed their guns at Carter.

Zer0 ran forward. Past Carter and to the guards. They fired their guns. Zer0 jumped out of the way of a bullet and with great accuracy blocked one with his sword. When he was close enough he swung at a guard’s kneecap. It didn’t kill him, but was enough that he fell down in pain. August put a bullet in the guard’s head. Zer0 stabbed another guard in the back. The rest of the guards were gunned down by the rest of the group.

They all ran forward. Shooting at any guard that came into their view. As they ran Zer0 saw a familiar person. He saw the same little girl dead on the ground close to her mother. This encouraged him to forward. At the speed, they were going at the reached the plaza of the city in less than three minutes.

The plaza was a wide-open circular space with a sitting place in the center. Most of the plaza was destroyed with multiple corpses littering the ground. They stopped and looked around to see if anyone was alive. None of the bodies on the ground were.

Roger, the muscular man from before, came running in the plaza with five other people. They were out of breath and covered in blood. He came up to Carter and said:

“Sanctuary’s exit has been compromised sir.”

“How was it compromised?!” Carter yelled.

“The Queen showed up and blocked the exit. We tried to kill her, but it was impossible. She killed everyone there. Then the-“

A massive explosion came from the center of the plaza. They shielded their eyes from the light. When they looked back the center of the plaza was in flames. From the depths of the fire the King came forward.

  The King had brown hair that was neatly combed back. He had a single streak of white in his brown hair. He didn’t wear a crown His right eye was a dark purple, while his left eye was a yellow gold ECHO eye. He was handsome in a way. He wore a black leather V-neck vest with his symbol on top left. He wore black pants with a silver belt. He wore black leather boots. His right arm was a black mechanical arm. There was yellow gold coloring at the joints. The fingers were filed to sharp points. His left arm had yellow gold tattoos. They followed a chaotic pattern of circles, swirls, and shapes. The tattoos on his chest that were visible were not yellow gold. They were dark purple. All of his tattoos had a glow to them. Even though he wasn’t using his powers. Most of the time he was called the King, but his name was…

**Rhys**

**The Male Siren**

A huge smile was across his face as he walked closer. They all felt something in his presence. _Primal fear_. Teresa felt the urge to run away, but her feet were gulled to the ground. She looked at the others. They felt the same. Maya came out from behind Rhys along with guards from the Imperial Garrison and the Lunar Guard.

Rhys was extremely tall. Zer0 was slightly lower than Maya’s shoulder. Maya went to Rhys’ shoulder. Maya had her helmet on and there were splotches of blood on her armor. Maya had betrayed them. Rhys stopped a few yards away from the others. Maya stopped next to Rhys. Maya’s guards stood behind her while Rhys’ guards stood behind him. Rhys looked over his enemies.

“Wow,” his voice was powerful and louder than the surrounding chaos, “it’s been over a century and I can still remember your sad little faces. Zer0,” he looked at the assassin, “how was it in the Vault?” Rhys asked casually. Zer0 didn’t say anything. “Oh, have nothing to say. I get it. It can be disorientating coming back from a different universe. I believe you all came back with the intent of killing me.”

“Yes we did / and we will” Zer0 spoke up. Rhys laughed at this.

“I don’t know if you knew, but I’m the strongest being in all the universe. That and I always win. _Always_.” He then looked at August. “Ouch that looks like it hurt.” He gestured to August’s eye patch. “Who did that to you?”

“Who do you think?” was August’s reply.

“Yeah, I was trying to melt your face off, but taking your eye was all I managed to do. I wish it could have been more.”

“Why?” He looked to see who had spoken. It had been Teresa. “Why do you have to take more? Haven’t you taken enough?” His powerful gaze was now on Teresa. She felt immense fear. He looked at her for a moment and smiled.

“Teresa is that you. You look like your… mom. Well, to answer your question I keep on ‘taking’ from you because you keep on taking from me.”

“What did my dad take from you that you had to take his life? I remember being a small child and seeing you and my Dad talking like you were best friends? Were you?”

“Yes.” Rhys seemed to look a little sad as he spoke. “He was my best friend. He was there when I needed him the most. He was someone I could talk to. I was so happy for him when he found the love of his life. Then he had you and I was proud of him. He made something that was hard to make. He made a family.”

“Then why? If you were that connected to him why kill him?” Her voice wavered.

“Why?” his voice was dangerously low. “Why?!” he screamed. “Because he betrayed me. He left and then fought against me. He _hurt_ me! So, I hurt him back. I killed someone he cared about. I couldn’t kill you because you were in Sanctuary so, I had to kill someone else. The love of his life, Sasha.” Teresa felt tears well up in her eyes.

“But that wasn’t enough. I wanted him to die. When I was about to kill him that is when he began to say he was sorry.” He laughed a little. “I had heard enough of his lies. So, I tore his head from his shoulders. That’s why he had to die Teresa, because he hurt me. I made sure he paid for what he did.”

“Enough!” he focused his gaze on the one who spoke. It was Carter. “How did you find Sanctuary?” The remaining citizens of Sanctuary had begun to come into the plaza; listening to the conversation between rivals.

“How did I find Sanctuary?” he chuckled. “The funny thing is I already knew Sanctuary existed.” The people around them gave a look of shock. “I know what you’re thinking ‘How did he know? We’ve been here for years etc.’. To answer your burning questions is I found the chest before you did.

“And to be honest I laughed at what Fiona said in her letter. It was ridicules I could have destroyed it there and then, but then I thought ‘What if I leave this here for some idiots to find and they find the Vault Hunters for me?’.” He looked at the Vault Hunters. “The plan worked perfectly.”

“No.” Carter said stepping forward. “I won’t let you destroy Sanctuary.” He pointed his sword toward Rhys. Roger and the other citizens that had guns pointed it at him. All who stayed back were the three Vault Hunters, Junior, and Twilight.

“You are going to die today.” Carter hissed. Maya began to walk forwards before Rhys put his hand out and stopped her.

“No. They want to kill me.” He walked forward. He cracked his knuckles and smiled. “Let them try.”

“Fire!” Carter screamed. Every gun fired. Over a dozen bullets sped towards Rhys. He didn’t do anything. He let every bullet hit him. The bullets hit him and shattered. It didn’t take long for their guns to empty. They stood there shocked. Rhys smirked.

“Now it’s my turn.” Teresa didn’t see Rhys move. He was suddenly standing a dozen feet from where he originally was surrounded by five corpses with their heads busted open.  There was blood on Rhys’ hands. He turned to Carter and Roger.

Roger and Carter charged at Rhys. Rhys looked at them and smiled. Roger tried to punch Rhys in the chest while Carter swung his sword at Rhys’ neck. Rhys caught Roger’s punch with his mechanic hand and Carter’s sword with his tattooed hand. With little effort, he crushed Roger’s hand and shattered Carter’s sword.

He punched Roger in the face with his mechanical hand. Roger’s head exploded from the force of the impact. His corpse fell to the ground. Rhys’ chest was splattered with Roger’s brain matter. Carter screamed and tried to use his broken sword to stab Rhys. Rhys grabbed Carter’s neck with his tattooed hand. Carter droped his broken sword and began to gasp for breath; scratching at Rhys’ hand. Rhys looked upon him with hate.

“You. You’re the leader of Sanctuary.” His grip tightened around Carter’s neck. Twilight waned to help Carter. To save him. She didn’t.

“How dare you lead such a terrible city. You useless _mortal_. Well, not completely useless. You’re gonna help me prove a point.” With that he tore Carter’s head from his shoulders. Some gasped, some screamed, some cried. A headless corpse hit the ground. Rhys turned to face the civilians with Carter’s decapitated head. They were too scared to run. He held up Carter’s head for all to see. Carter’s jaw was slacked open and his eyes were glazed over. They all stared at the head in horror. Rhys shook the head as he screamed:

“This is who you trust to be your ruler! He was weak and unfit to rule anything! He couldn’t protect you from me. You believed his lies about how all your _saviors_ would come and protect you.” He pointed to the Vault Hunters.

“Look at your saviors! They didn’t do anything while Sanctuary was being attacked. I would say I feel sorry for you, but I don’t.” He turned to the others. He tossed Carter’s head at them. It rolled before stopping at Twilight’s feet. She looked down at the head. He turned back towards the citizens.

“I just wanted you all to know that before you all die.”

His tattoos glowed brighter. He raised his hand. In one fast motion, he brought his hand down. A wave of force went down on the citizens and crushed them to death. There were horrible cracking sounds as bones crunched under the force of Rhys’ attack. Rhys blitzed back to his original spot beside Maya. She hadn’t done anything while Rhys had been talking. The only people still alive in Sanctuary were the Vault Hunters, Twilight, Junior, guards from both rulers, the Queen, and the King. Rhys began to talk again.

“Now that I killed literally everyone in Sanctuary what do you have to say?” No one said anything. Was there anything to say?

“Oh, that’s sad I thought-“

“I’ll **KILL** you!” Twilight screamed with more fury than she ever had.

Carter was like a father to her. She just saw him get murdered by the evilest of sirens. Her tattoos glowed brighter than ever. Her eyes filled with purple light. A big orb of purple energy manifested in her glowing hand. She threw it as hard as she could. It sped at Rhys at an alarming rate. The orb struck Rhys in the chest and… bounced off as if it were a bouncy ball. The orb hit a nearly collapsed building and caused it to fully collapse. She powered down and looked at him in shock. He looked at her with a curious look.

“So, you’re the siren that escaped me all those years ago. That was quite a weak blast you just did. I thought having all this time to make yourself stronger. I was hoping to fight a siren today. Such a waste of a siren.

“Well, if you all didn’t know this is the part where you die. You don’t get to live happily ever after. You’ll lose just like Lilith and Fiona did. But hey, maybe in _another_ universe we could have been friends.” He looked over his enemies one last time. His tattoos glowed brighter as he called upon his power. He extended his hand towards them. Pure power coming out of his hand.

“ ** _DIE NOW!_** ”


	3. The Past Told

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own borderlands. I own my original characters, my origin for some characters, and origins for Pandora. This story contains blood, gore, violence, and a grim and dark AU. Viewer discretion is advised.

Rhys was going to kill them. Simple as that. The Vault Hunters had come to Pandora to save it from Rhys. They had failed. They weren’t able to fight him when he attacked Sanctuary. Because of that everybody in Sanctuary was slaughtered.  

Teresa felt time slow down as she stared at death. She didn’t know what Rhys was going to do to kill them. Hopefully it wouldn’t be as painful as the other deaths she had seen in Sanctuary. Death. She didn’t know if she was ready to die. Though as she stared at the golden light she noticed another light form. It was blue.

Rhys too focused on killing his enemies didn’t see the blue blast of energy coming at him. It collided with his side and was sent to the ground. The attack he was about to unleash died. He began to get up when he felt a punch hit his back. He leaned down slightly from surprise. He turned his head to see who attacked him. It was Maya. Her tattoos glowed with power. She aimed another punch at his head.

He caught the punch with his mechanical hand. In the blink of an eye he was standing up. He looked down at Maya; his eyes filled with rage. He punched her in the face with his tattooed hand. The force of the blow sent her flying back and her helmet flew off. She hit the ground in front of the Vault Hunters with a hard thud. They stared at her in shock. She began to pick herself up. Rhys stood in his original spot and glared at her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” he asked in a venomous tone. Maya’s long hair covered her face. She got on one knee and looked at him. The bruise on her cheek began to fade as her body healed itself. She wiped off the excess blood on her face with a hand. She stood up in front of the Vault Hunters.

“I’m doing what I should have done years ago. Fight you.” Her voice rang with the same kind of power of a storm. Rhys yelled back at her with his powerful voice.

“Why?! I gave you everything. I made you my partner. I made you one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Why would you throw that away to save a bunch of useless _mortals_ that deserve to die?!”

“Because they’re right.” She gestured to the people behind her. “You are not a good leader Rhys. You’re cruel and heartless. I can’t believe I listened to you. We came here,” she then gestured to the surrounding area,

“and slaughtered people like they were animals. You have no respect for human life and because I believed you I have done unspeakable things without realizing it. I now regret doing those things.” She turned her head towards the Vault Hunters. She looked at Zer0.

“And I am _sorry_ for them.” She gave a kind smile. She turned back to Rhys. His expression was one of anger.

“Is that what you think now?” his anger soon faded and was replaced with a smile. “You think you can fight me because Lilith did.” Inside Maya cringed. She always felt hurt when thinking about her. “Well, newsflash for you, you aren’t as strong as her. Even if you were, you’ll still lose because I always win.”

“By myself yes, but I’m not. Lunar Guard!” the guards were standing on Rhys’ side. “You all are loyal to your Queen correct? Then stand with me and help me fight the King!” None of the guards moved at first. Rhys moved his gaze toward the lunar guards. He stared them down. One brave guard walked forward and shouted:

“She’s right. Our loyalty is to our Queen.” It was Corporal Grant. He tried his best to ignore the King’s gaze. “She gave us an order,” he walked towards his Queen and stood by her side. He looked back at his fellow guards. “we need to follow it.” After a moment, a guard walked forward then another and another. Soon every lunar guard was standing with their Queen. The King and Queen faced each other. Both glaring at each other.

Maya’s tattoos glowed and a long shaft of blue energy formed in her hand. It was as long as her leg. The shaft of energy had the same colors and flowed as her phaselock with a violet center. It was her blade, _Vehement_. She brought _Vehement_ to a combat position.

“So, Rhys I fight you for everything you have. What do you say?” Her wings materialized behind her. They spread out from her body giving her angelic appearance. The blue feathers on her wings glowed softly.

Rhys looked at her. His eyes narrowed. Then the dark purple tattoos on his chest suddenly glowed. He cringed. In the chaos in the tattoos an arch was seen. The other half was covered by his clothing. His purple eye glowed in unison. He put his mechanical hand to his forehead and grunted. The glowing soon faded and the arch disappeared. After a moment Rhys chuckled.

“I say,” he brought his hand down and looked at Maya. His gold tattoos grew brighter. A long shaft of yellow gold power formed in his hand. It was constantly twisting and turning. It warped the air around it. It was pure chaos. It was _Insanity_. He pointed _Insanity_ at her.

“I guess I do get to fight a siren today.”

Maya turned her head to the Vault Hunters and said one word:

“Run.” With that she flapped her ethereal wings and flew at Rhys. Her guards ran forward with her. Rhys waited for Maya to come to him while his guards charged forward. The guards fought one another. In a moment allies turned into enemies.   The others ran in the opposite direction of the fight. Teresa felt a great weight come off her chest. She was alive.

“Where are we going?” she yelled. “The normal exist isn’t an option.”

“I know.” Twilight said. “Follow me.”  A deafening crack came from behind them. Teresa looked behind her to see Maya thrown up towards the roof of Sanctuary. She hit the roof and went all the way through, leaving a hole. There was a loud crack as Rhys broke the sound barrier from a stand still. He was nothing, but a gold blur as he flew through the hole. She turned to face the front again. Even though she hated Maya, she wanted her to survive.

They followed Twilight in the direction of the left wall of Sanctuary. The fires had begun to die down causing Sanctuary to lose most its lighting. They stopped when they got to the left rocky wall of Sanctuary. Twilight began to feel over the wall.

“Twi,” Junior said, “you had a way out of Sanctuary and didn’t tell me.”

“I don’t tell you a lot of things Junior.” She pushed on a part of the wall and it caved in.

That part of the wall turned out to be just rocks stacked upon each other. The rocks fell to show a small tunnel going upwards. Small cracks of light came from the end of the tunnel.

“What is this?” August asked.

“I use this to get out of Sanctuary without anyone knowing. I know a place we can hide out.” They all went into the tunnel; Twilight leading the way. The tunnel was cramped. It didn’t take long to get to the end of the tunnel. Twilight pushed against the wall and the rocks fell over. The light from outside flooded in the tunnel. Twilight walked out along with everyone else. Teresa looked around. They seemed near the end of the cave. There were no guards around.

“Okay this way.” Twilight said. She then ran in the opposite direction of the entrance to the cave. The others followed.

As Zer0 ran he hoped that Maya was still alive. Yes, she had betrayed them, but he could find a way to forgive her. She had given them a second chance to live. He just had to hope the others would trust her too.

* * *

It was a beautiful day in the little town. The streets were filled with happy little people. Out of all those people one stood out the most. **Bob**. the blued eyed brunette had the most successful life in the small town. He had a loving wife, a family, and a good job. He had a spring in his step as he walked down the street. He waved to people passing by and showing them his blinding smile. He took a deep breath in and looked at the blue sky.

He paused. There were two dots moving in the sky. One was blue and the other yellow gold. The dots swirled around each other in a kind of dance. He looked up at them in awe. That changed when there was a distant crack and the blue dot came right at the small town. Hearing the crack people looked up to see the blue dot coming towards them. As it came closer Bob realized it looked more like a person than a dot. His eyes widened as the person falling from the sky was close to crashing into the street.

Maya hit the ground with the force of a speeding car. The ground shook from the impact and dust kicked up. Parts of the cobblestone street flew and struck the unprepared citizens. The people stepped back from the place where she crashed. She began to pick herself up.

Her armor was covered in dents and scratches. She had several injuries that were in the process of healing; like her broken right arm. The bones in her arm pulled themselves back together with several cracks. She winced and thanked her siren powers for doing their job. She stood up and shook her wings getting the off the extra dust. Her hair had dried blood on it. She looked around at the people surrounding her. They stared at her at first, but realizing who she was they all began to bow.

“You all need to get out of here now!” her voice rang throughout the area. Rhys hit the ground behind her. The cobblestone was destroyed leaving dirt. His impact sent a massive shockwave through the earth. Lots of people lost their balance and fell to the ground. “Run!” she shouted before turning around to face Rhys. The people around them began to flee.

 Rhys didn’t have a scratch on him. The only thing wrong was his disheveled hair. His golden wings were spread out and glowed with his gold tattoos. _Insanity_ was conjured in his tattooed hand. Maya summoned _Vehement_ and immediately went to attack. Rhys was faster, stronger, and a better bladecaster. She wasn’t going to win a fight against him by herself. She had to find a way to flee without him following her.

Rhys swung _Insanity_ at her head; a blur of motion. She was just able to raise _Vehement_ high enough that it blocked Rhys’ blade. The power from _Insanity_ nearly caused _Vehement_ to go out. She couldn’t fight him in blade to blade combat. She had to use a different tactic.

Her tattoos glowed brighter as she activated _phaselock_.

Rhys was covered in purple energy. Maya had over a hundred years to practice her special ability. She learned that her phaselock could take multiple shapes. She covered him in the energy instead of a bubble. This didn’t stop him from moving. He was stronger. It did slow him down. Not by a large margin, but enough that she could get out of the way in time. He swung at her again; the movement was fast and strong enough to kill a person.

She beat her wings and flipped over him. She landed behind him and unleashed a burst of magic before he could turn around. He stumbled forward. He turned around to face Maya. She tried to stab him in the chest with _Vehement_. It met skin that could shatter dimonds. Her blade didn’t even pierce his skin. His tattoos glowed brighter from underneath the layer of energy.

Rhys was going to breakout of phaselock. Before he could do that Maya dismissed her blade, made a fist with her tattooed hand, and covered it in energy. She then punched him as hard as she could in the face. There was a small crack and he was sent flying backwards several yards. She flapped her wings and flew in the opposite direction of Rhys. As she flew through the empty streets she planned.

“ _I can’t believe I just did that! C’mon Maya focus._ ” She turned a corner.

“ _I need to find the Vault Hunters. Hopefully they will let me help them._ ” She flew up and over a small building.

“ _I’ll use the tracker I put on August to-_ “

An invisible force hit her from above. Her thought process stopped as she crashed into the ground. Her wings folded and disappeared. The ground cracked were she crashed into it. She skidded along the cobblestones until she collided with a metal pole. The pole almost fell over. Her head pounded as her vision blurred. She looked up to see Rhys standing over her. He sneered at her and grabbed her by the neck with his mechanical. He brought her up to eye level. She squirmed under his powerful grasp. He looked at her with anger in his eyes.

“How could you Maya?!” he said in his powerful voice. “After everything we’ve been through together you try to kill me. I thought our bond was stronger than that, but I was sadly mistaken. Your just like the others who betrayed me.” His grip tightened.

“Your just as weak as the others as well. I gave you chance to redeem yourself by telling me where the Vault Hunters were. I gave you _mercy_. The mercy I had for you is long gone Maya.” She began to panic.

She couldn’t die. She still had to help the Vault Hunters. She had to earn back their trust. She didn’t want them to remember her as the siren that killed one of their friends and betrayed them. She knew how she was going to get out of this.

She had to think like _Lilith_.

“It’s sad that you thought you could win. I thought you learned by now I always win.”

“ _Lilith would find the enemies weakness and use it to her advantage. Rhys’ cybernetics. Then she would find a way to exploit it._ ” She began to look around for anything that could help her.

“Well, it may take a while for the people of Elpis to get over the loss of their queen, but I can wait.” He conjured _Insanity_ in his tattooed hand and pointed it at her.

She looked up and her eyes lit up. The pole wasn’t an ordinary pole. It was an electricity pole. When she crashed into it she had broken most of the wires. Electricity sparked from the broken wires.

“You have lost Maya. _Die now_.”

“No.”

She summoned _Vehement_ and swung it at the pole behind her. _Vehement_ cut through the pole like it was paper. All the wires snapped and the pole fell. While he looked up to see what was happening she kicked him with both feet in the chest. He let go of her neck and stumbled back right in the path of the sparking pole.

Maya’s wings materialized. She flapped them as fast as she could as she flew away. Before Rhys could fly after her the pole hit him. The pole didn’t hurt him, but the electricity in the pole did. Most of his body was fine but his cybernetics were taking severe damage. He wasn’t prepared to protect himself.  He screamed as he felt his cybernetics being fried in his head. He felt something in his eye pop and a sticky fluid fell down his face. His ECHO eye and mechanic arm went black.

There was a small explosion and he fell backwards. His blade disappeared. He landed on his side with a grunt. He sat up; his mechanical arm was lifeless at his side. His systems immediately began to turn back on. He was able to move his arm again. He opened and closed his hand. His ECHO eye flickered back to life but something felt different about it. Shadows clawed at the edge of his vision and the screen seemed darker. He got rid of the screen; the shadows were still there. He quickly stood up. He needed to see his eye.

He looked around for a reflection. He saw on another metal pole. He ran to it and looked at his eye. He gasped at what he saw.

“What the hell happened to my eye?!” he screamed in surprise and anger.

His eye was pitch black. The sclera was **black**. The iris was **black**. The only light in the eye was the yellow gold pupil. Black liquid flowed out of the eye like tears.

“No. No. NO! This can’t be happening!” he began to wipe the liquid off his face. The liquid stuck to his hands and smeared on his face.

He activated his ECHO eye to see if the eye would change. The white lines in the irises lit up. That was it. When he stopped using his eye the lines went away. He screamed in anger as he looked at his nightmare eye.

“I’m not going to look like _her_!”

He punched his reflection with his tattooed hand. The pole was forced in half at where he punched. The upper half of the pole flew back and imbed itself in the ground dozens of meters away. He gritted his teeth. This was Maya’s fault.

“I’m going to kill her!” He materialized his wings. He flapped his wings he broke the sound barrier from a stand still.

He looked around from the sky. He flew around the etire area in moments. Maya was nowhere to be seen. He then flew back to the cave Sanctuary was in, in a matter of seconds He didn’t see here. He couldn’t sense her either. Probably because of his cybernetics being damaged. He stopped and hovered above the cave Sanctuary was in. By now the guards had either went back to the castle or were killed. The place was deserted.

He took a deep breath; calming himself. He needed to relax. He would let them get away this time. They were lucky. He needed to get back to Castle Siren and fix his eye. He made a mental note to put Maya and the Vault Hunters to his ‘Must Die’ list. He looked around one last time before taking off in the direction of Castle Siren. Little did he know that he passed over one of the people on his list as he flew.

Maya watched Rhys fly away through the hole in Sanctuary she had created earlier. She breathed a sigh of relief. She then began to fly over the remains of Sanctuary. The fires had gone out causing the only light in Sanctuary to be from the hole in the roof. The buildings were nothing, but rubble. The streets were filled with the corpses of the innocent and their blood. Maya felt guilt rise inside of her.

She hadn’t felt that feeling in years. It wasn’t her fault that the King found Sanctuary. He already knew it existed. It was her fault for joining him. She didn’t have to kill the people in Sanctuary, yet she did. She didn’t know how she ever thought this was okay. That realization terrified her. She had thought just like him.

She heard fighting going on from the ground. She looked down to see one lunar guard fighting three imperial guards. The lunar guard was Corporal Grant.

She angled her wings and dove down. She surprised the imperial guards. She didn’t slow down as she landed on one of the guard. There were loud cracks as his bones broke. He cried out in pain. She cast her blade and swung it at the guard that charged her from the left. He was cut in two. She then stabbed the guard she was on top of in the head. He died instantly. She got off him and turned around to look at Grant. He was pulling his sword out of the corpse of the guard.

He walked to his queen and bowed.

“Thank you, your highness. Your aid was much needed.” Maya looked at him before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her beautiful blue eyes. They looked tired.

“I’m glad you’re here Grant.” She looked around. “I’m guessing that you are the only guard left.”

“I am your highness.”

“Grant.”

“Yes, your highness?” he felt a hand on his shoulder he looked up to see the Queen’s gaze upon him.

“Thank you, Grant. For standing with me.” He smiled from under his helmet.

“Your welcome, your highness.”

“Call me Maya, Grant.”

“Okay. Your Welcome… Maya.” He felt good calling her that.

“It sounds good to hear that name again.” she sighed then clapped her hands together. “Okay here’s the plan Grant we have to go find the Vault Hunters. Get into my arms.” She held out her arms.

“Are you sure Maya?” the idea of jumping into his queen’s arms sounded ridiculous.

“I’m sure.”

“Okay.” He said awkwardly and got into Maya’s arms.

She held him bridal style. He was light in her arms. Her wings appeared and she took flight. He clung to her as tight as he could. She flew towards the entrance of Sanctuary. As she got closer it got darker. Once they got the entrance she saw the door had been blown off its hinges. She landed in front of the entrance. Grant hoped down.

“Grant is the jeep still there?”

“Yes.”

“Great.” They began to walk through the entrance.

It was pitch black. Maya put power into her tattoos and they lit up. She shinned her light around the area. The jeep was in the back corner. They walked towards the jeep. As they got closer she stepped in something. She lifted her foot and saw blood dripping off her foot. Her eyes followed the blood trail. It led to a corpse of a women with a bullet in her head. It was lying next to the jeep.

“Grant could you please…” she gestured to the corpse.

“Of course.” He walked up to the corpse, grabbed its feet, and dragged it away.

“Thanks.” She walked forward and opened the passenger side door. She looked inside.

She wondered why Sanctuary had a jeep if they weren’t allowed to have any technology. She then looked up front were the driver seat was. She cocked her head at what she saw. A small circular device was attached on the dashboard. She reached and grabbed the device. She saw a flashlight in the passenger seat. She grabbed the flashlight, got out the car, and closed the door. She then went to the back of the jeep. She opened the trunk and smiled. A black duffel bag was in the trunk.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Grant asked dusting off his hands.

“I sure did. Here take this.” She opened the bag and put the device inside; she zipped up the bag. Then she grabbed the bag and handed it to him. He put the strap over his shoulder. “That belongs to the Vault Hunters. Oh, and take this also.” She handed him the flashlight. “And this.” She pulled out her tracker. He took it and looked at it.

“What is this?”

“I put a tracker on one of the Vault Hunters. This is where they are.” She pointed to the blue dot on the map. “Go I’ll meet you there.”

“What are you going to do and how will you know where to go?”

“I gotta grab something important and I have a tracker for my tracker. Oh, and side note the Vault Hunters may attack you when you get there. Now go.”

“Yes ma’am.” He gave a salute and took off in the direction of the exit to the cave.

She went in the opposite direction. She went back into Sanctuary. It was completely silent. The light from the hole wasn’t so bright causing the area to barley have any light. She quickly took to the air. She flew over what used to be a great city. She flew towards HQ. She flew to the back of the building. She saw a window with the curtains drawn.

From inside she could see a chest on a desk. She punched the window and the glass shattered. She landed softly of the glass covered floor. The glass crunched under her feet as she walked. She walked to the desk and looked at the chest. She was going to need this if she wanted to earn the trust of the others.

* * *

Twilight led them to her special place. On their way, there Twilight and Junior expressed their feelings about losing their home. The Vault Hunters had comforted them. 

Twilight’s special place was like an oasis in the desert. The ground was covered in green grass. There was a small hill in the center. There was a small pond in the area. The setting sun’s light caused the pond to sparkle and shimmer. Twilight took a deep breath of the air. The others looked around the area in awe.

“Welcome to my special place.” Twilight said. “Hopefully this is where we can hide. Do you guys like it?”

“Like it? This place is amazing!” Teresa exclaimed. “How did you find this place?”

“Well, I was exploring around and I stumbled upon this place. I’ve been coming her as much as I could after that.”

“Twi,” Junior said. “Why didn’t you tell me you went here?”

“Because you can’t keep a secret.”

“That is so not true.” She raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah sure.”

“Okay now that were here,” August said. “The grownups need to talk.” He gestured to himself and Zer0.

“C’mon August.” Teresa whined. “I’m old enough to be included in the big person talks.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, “I’m older than her I should be included.”

“You have to be eighteen or older to be included in big person talks.” Replied August.

“Oh, I’m over eighteen!” Junior said putting his hand up.

“Exactly how old are you?”

“I’m twenty-five.” August looked over to Zer0. He nodded his head. August made a gesture for Junior to come over. He bounded towards them with a smile on his face. Twilight and Teresa walked away as the grownups began to talk. The teenage girls sat some distance away. Teresa liked how the grass felt on her skin.

“Can you believe it?” Teresa said.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. They treat us like-“

“Children.” They both said at the same time. They both looked at each other and giggled.

“So,” Teresa said, “how does it feel to be one of the legendary sirens?”

“It feels pretty good.” Twilight held up her tattooed hand. “Knowing that you could do things other people who can’t. Like this.” She faced her palm up. Her tattoos lit up. An orb of eridium purple came to life in her hand. Teresa’s eyes lit up at the magic trick.

“That’s so cool.”

“Yeah it is, but…” Teresa tore her gaze from the orb to Twilight’s eyes.

“But what?”

“But I don’t feel like I’m that good at being a siren.” Teresa looked shocked. “Today I saw the two other sirens that exist and they are way more powerful than I am. The attack I did on the King was the strongest attack I ever did. It bounced of him like a ball.” She looked down at the orb in her hand. She closed her hand and the orb went away; along with the glow of her tattoos. She closed her eyes.

“They can do things that I can’t do and… the King said that I was a waste of a siren and-“

“Woah hold up the King?” Twilight felt a hand on her tattooed hand. She opened her eyes to see Teresa’s hand holding hers.

“Don’t listen to what that jerk says. So, what if he’s the most powerful siren in the entire universe. He can never be as good hearted as you.” Twilight looked up into Teresa’s big brown eyes.

“My aunt said that sirens aren’t random. They’re chosen to be sirens by the universe. The universe chose you for a good reason and I think so too.” She smiled. Twilight smiled back.

“Thanks for believing in me Teresa.”

“No problem.” There was a small pause.

“So, how does it feel to be one of the saviors of Pandora?” Teresa took her hand off Twilight’s and scratched the back of her neck.

“Oh, geez. I never thought all of that would be placed on me. I mean I’m one of the people destined to save Pandora. No pressure.” They chuckled.

“What do you mean you trust her?!”

The teenagers turned their heads when they heard August’s shout.

“I mean I’m willing / to forgive Maya / for her mistakes” Zer0 replied.

“After all she did you think we can trust her.”

“I think she might be dangerous to trust.” Junior said.

“See. Junior gets it.” The teens looked back at each other.

“I’m sorta glad that were not in that conversation.” Twilight said.

“Yeah… Do you trust Maya?” Teresa asked. Twilight made a face. “I mean our conversation doesn’t have to be an adult conversation. It could be a teen conversation. Teen to teen.”

“Okay. I’m extremely mad at her for killing the people of Sanctuary, but she stepped up when we were about to be killed. She protected us when we needed it. That and if she were on our side she could teach me everything she knows about being a siren. So, I can find a way to trust her. What about you?”

“You’re right about her protecting us and everything. I can see how you can trust her and I kinda trust her. It’s just that I hate her.”

“Why?”

“Because a long time ago she killed one of my friends.”

“Wow, I can see why you hate her. I’m happy that your willing to get over your hate for her to trust her.” Teresa’s eyes widened after Twilight said that.

“What’s wrong?”

“Twilight you said no one knows where this place is. Right?”

“Yeah why?”

“Then what’s he doing here?!” Teresa pointed behind Twilight with a finger. She turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw Corporal Grant walking towards them with a black duffel bag.

“Guys we have company!” Teresa yelled as she and Twilight stood up. The adults stopped talking and looked in the direction Grant was in. August and Junior grabbed their guns and pointed them at Grant. Grant a few feet away held up his hands.

“I come as a friend not a foe.”

“How do we know that?” Junior asked.

“Here.” Grant tossed the duffel bag at them. Teresa bent down and opened it. “Maya told me that belonged to you guys.” Inside the duffel bag was all their stuff that the guards had taken from them earlier.

“Don’t shoot guys!” Teresa shouted. “He’s on our side.” They glanced at the duffel bag then put away their guns. Grant put his hands down.

“Where is / Maya” Zer0 asked.

“Don’t worry she’s behind me.”

“How did you find us?” August asked. Grant pulled out the tracker.

“Maya had one of you guys tracked.” He looked at the tracker to see who had the tracker on them. It pointed to the guy with the eyepatch.

“She put the tracker on you.” He pointed to August. He began to feel himself all over. He touched a spot on his neck and felt something metallic. He grabbed the object and looked at it. It was a very small silver circle with a blue light in the circle. He crushed it in his hand and let the remains fall to the ground.

“Sorry I didn’t get your guys’ names.” Grant said. They said their names. “That’s good to know.” He reached up and took off his helmet. He had extremely short dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes.

“When should / Maya get here?” Zer0 asked.

“Right about-“ There was a loud thud behind them. They looked behind them to see a tired Maya with a blue duffel bag over her shoulder and the chest from before was in front of her on the ground.

“Now.”

“You brought the chest?!” Teresa exclaimed. Maya shook her tired wings before they disappeared. She dusted herself off and smiled.

“I thought I should bring a trust me present.” She looked around to see their expressions. “Hopefully this and saving your lives is enough to earn your trust.”

“It / is” Zer0 said.

“Thanks.” She leaned down and grabbed the blue duffel bag. “Before I tell you my story, I’m going to go change my outfit. Be right back.” She walked off to behind the hill so she wasn’t exposed while she changed. Teresa went to the chest and opened it. The letter and picture lay on top of the journals. She quickly grabbed the letter.

“Now we can finish the letter.” She said standing up. She cleared her throat and spoke.

“ _My note to you Vault Hunters is that there is always a way. Just because you’re against an opponent that is stronger than you don’t mean it’s impossible to win. The way to defeat him is **together**. I only say him because I believe the Queen isn’t bad. She’s just another victim of the King’s wrong doing. A problem you may have with her is her killing Angel. I must say I’m happy she did that. Angel was lost and broken. I know her father couldn’t put her back together. The Queen gave Angel peace. Please trust her. She will help you to victory. That is my final note to you Vault Hunters. Remember you’re stronger together._

_Sincerely,_

_Fiona Faust”_

Teresa read the last part of the letter with a shocked expression. Her aunt Fiona was happy that Angel was killed. Was Angel really that bad?

“After hearing / that” Zer0 said looking at August and Junior, “do you think / you can trust her?”

“Sure.” August mumbled crossing his arms.

“I can now.” Said Junior. Maya came back from behind the hill; carrying the duffel bag and a small device. She had cleaned off the dirt on her skin. She wore a silky blue long-sleeved shirt. The blue faded like her hair. The left sleeve was missing and the shirt was loose on her. She wore long silky pants that were the same color blue at the end of her hair. She didn’t ware any shoes. Her hair sparkled and flowed like waves. She had on her silver crown upon her head. It was more of a tiara. It was mostly covered by her head. The part of the crown that showed was her symbol. The symbol of the Queen Siren was upon her head. She put down the duffel bag and walked to her allies.

“Okay now that I’ve changed we can talk.” She sat down cross legged on the grass. The others formed a semicircle in front of her and waited.

“Before you start,” Junior said, “can I ask a question?” she looked at him and nodded. “Are you and the King a thing?” It was a good question. Maya blushed slightly at the question.

“What?! No, we’re just good friends or were good friends. Anyway, I know you’re all wanting to know the past, but that will have to wait. Before you start complaining I will tell you guys I just want to talk about the present first.” She pulled out the device, which was a small metal box, and set it on the ground. She pressed on it. A blue holographic screen appeared in front of her chest.

“Can the King track that?” Junior asked.

“Not right now. I fried his cybernetics before I escaped; okay back to the present. Through the years Rhys and I have developed a hierarchy. Meaning how we spread authority throughout Pandora, Elpis, Hyperion, and Atlas. We give certain people authority. People we trust. At the bottom of the hierarchy is Hyperion, Atlas, and the Pandora’s wastelands.” She touched the screen and six names within red rectangles in a horizontal line appeared at the bottom of the screen. She pointed at name as she read from left to right.

“Trinity, Hera, Diesel, Screwloose, Hunter, and Jade.”

“Who are they?” Teresa asked.

“These are the names of the people that run Hyperion, Atlas, and Pandora’s wastelands. Hera is the CEO of all Atlas, while Trinity is second in command. The authority they have only pertains to their corporations. Same goes for the others on this level. I know these two personally. I know Hera better. I was the one who trained her in combat. There both on Atlas’ Pandoran base. Hopefully they will be on our side when the war starts.”

“Woah what do mean by war?” August asked.

“I mean I tried to overthrow Rhys. Meaning there’s going to be a lot of fighting. Meaning a war will occur. Okay back to the hierarchy. Diesel is the CEO of Hyperion, while Screwloose is second in command. They’re both cyborgs. Diesel was trained by Rhys so, they have a close relationship.”

“What happened / to Wilhelm?” Zer0 asked.

“He died of old age. Now Screwloose was actually an experiment. Rhys wanted to see what would happen if a person was given cybernetics at a young age. Like toddler years. He survived the operation and is the best teenage hacker. The downside was he developed a screw loose, hence his name.”

“How old is he?” Twilight asked.

“He’s sixteen. They live on Helios. I think that they would side with Rhys so, we can count them as enemies.” She continued. “We have another corporation, Triton, that focuses on keeping the wastelands free of bandits, psychos, dangerous animals, etc. Hunter is the director, while Jade is second in command. They are like the killer duo of all the others. I mean they just love to kill bandits. It’s safe to say that they’ll join Rhys’ side because were fighting for peace. Their head base is in Lynchwood.” She looked over the names. “These people have been trained how to fight by Rhys and I. Taking them down won’t be easy.”

“So, your saying,” Junior said, “out of all these corporations only one might be on our side and the rest of the people in charge can fight really good.”

“Yeah, that is exactly what I’m saying. That’s just the bottom layer. On to the next layer.” She touched the screen again. Three names within green rectangles stacked upon the bottom layer. She began reading the names from left to right.

“Orion, Sparta, and Sin.” The name Sin sounded familiar to Zer0 and August. “Orion and Sparta are high officials in the army. Orion is the general, while Sparta is the lieutenant for Rhys’ army. Obviously loyal to the King.”

“What about / Sin?” Zer0 asked. “The name sounds / familiar to me”

“It should be because it’s the same Sin that you fought before.”

“Wait,” August said, “you mean Sin, John dark body double?”

“I sure do.”

“How is he still alive?!”

“Rhys made him immoral. Simple as that.”

“What do you guys, mean John’s immortal dark body double?” Teresa asked. August looked at her.

“While John was fighting he came across his body double, _Timothy Lawrence._ Tim attacked John. Fiona told us that Tim was under some kind of influence that made him on Rhys’ side.”

“It’s true.” Maya said. “Rhys had done something to him that made him obey like a dog. I tried to help him once. I couldn’t reverse what Rhys had done to him. But I felt Tim still in there fighting, but he stopped fighting a long time ago. As far as I know Timothy Lawrence is now Sin. About one hundred fifty years ago Rhys had pumped Sin full of eridium. Now he is stronger than ever.

“He’s Rhys pet now.  Always following and obeying him. He takes care of all the stuff that Rhys rather not do.” She stopped and looked all of them in the eye. “If you come across him try your best to survive. Trust me you may not want to fight him, but he will kill you. Remember that. Now to the next layer.” She touched the screen again and two names appeared within blue rectangles on top of the other layer.

“Freya and I. Freya is on my level because she has the most authority besides me or Rhys. She is the general for my army. Though she is my general she is loyal to Rhys. There is something I need to tell you about Freya, Sparta, Orion, and Trinity. They are not _human_.”

“If they’re not humans then what are they?” Twilight asked.

“They’re inhuman. So, sirens have three main parts. Their strength and healing, flight and agility, and then a sirens magic ability. An inhuman would have one of the three parts.” The Vault Hunters felt déjà vu. “Orion is super strong and able to heal is body at an alarming rate. He is a type of inhuman called a kratos. Sparta has wings and is extremely agile. She is called an aries. Freya and Trinity can do magic. She is called a cerridwen.”

“Wait,” Teresa shouted, “that sounds like Fiona and my mom. Fiona had that mark on her forehead and could do magic. My mom had wings.”

“Yeah it sure does.” August said. “You’re telling us that we have to deal with three inhumans.”

“Yes.” Maya said.

“Where did you find them?” asked Twilight intrigued.

“Actually, we didn’t find them more like summoned them. Turns out those three purposes is to serve powerful sirens. Rhys and I summoned them over two hundred years ago. They’re immortal because they need to serve sirens. Okay now for the last layer. I wonder who it could be?” she said sarcastically. She touched the screen and a single name within a gold triangle was on top of the other layer.

“Rhys is on the top of the pyramid. I don’t have to tell you why his at the top. He can overrule every decision, even mine.” She pressed a button on the device and it turned off. “Okay now that’s cleared up I can tell you guys what-“

“Wait!” Twilight interrupted. Maya looked at her.

“Yes?”

“I-I was wondering if you could answer some of my questions. Could you?” Twilight asked nervously. Maya smiled.

“I’ll try. What is your name?”

“It’s Twilight.”

“Okay Twilight before you ask questions I want to apologize for what happened when you were younger. If I had known what Rhys was going to do… that I would have stopped it.”

“It’s okay I guess.” Twilight got a little excited as she asked her first question. “Where do sirens originate from?” The others leaned in slightly; excited themselves Maya thought for a moment before answering.

“Well, a very long time ago, I mean before technology there was one powerful siren named _Harmony_. Harmony decided that she needed couldn’t have all that power to herself so she decided to make other sirens with her power. She made three sirens _Terra_ , _Castor_ , and _Tempest_. Terra had control over nature and earth. Castor had the greatest mind and perfected her magic abilities. Tempest had control over the weather and was the fastest and physically stronger out of the three. After the process Harmony perished. After Harmony perished the three sirens spread their genes to the next generation and so on so forth. I learned that sirens are categorized by the three original sirens. For example, I’m a tempest class siren because I have Tempest’s strong and fast qualities.”

“What class am I?” Twilight asked.

“Can I see your hand?” Twilight put out her hand and Maya grabbed it. She looked at the color and design of the tattoos. She let go of her hand when she was done.

“You are a castor.”

“What class is Rhys?” Teresa asked.

“He’s a castor like Twilight.”

“Wait,” Twilight said, “if I’m a castor then why can I only through orbs of energy?”

“What does that look like?” Twilight held out her hand and made and orb appear.

“Oh yes I remember. You used that attack today on Rhys. Yeah, that’s not your special ability.”

“Not my what?”

“Your special ability. An ability that only that siren can do. Look, I can do that to.” Maya held out her hand and her tattoos lit up. An orb manifested in her hand like Twilight’s. Only differences were that hers was bigger and colored blue. Twilight looked at her orb than Maya’s and back at hers. She closed her hand and the orb disappeared.

“Does that mean I don’t have a special ability?” Maya made her orb disappear.

“No. You just haven’t found it yet. You just found out how to put your magic and energy into an orb of power first.”

“What’s your special ability?” Junior asked.

“I’m able to take energy from another dimension and lock things in it. I call it phaselock.”

“What can the King do?” Teresa asked.

“To tell the truth… I’m not sure. I think I never seen him use his ability.”

“Speaking of power,” August said, “how do sirens get more powerful? Do they use eridium?”

“No, they shouldn’t. Eridium is bad for sirens. Yes, it makes them more powerful, but at a cost. If a siren uses to much eridium their body becomes reliant on it so much that if they are without it for a moment they will die. Rhys hates eridium so much that he got rid of all of it on Pandora and put it only he knows where. How a siren becomes powerful without getting sick is through age. The longer a siren lives the more their power grows. The older the siren the more powerful they are.”

“If your almost / three hundred years old” Zer0 said, “then why is Rhys / so much stronger than you?”

“Yeah um Rhys is over nine hundred fifty years old.” Their jaws dropped. “Yeah I know he is close to one thousand.”

“Dang, he’s that old.” August said.

“He’s the oldest being in the universe meaning he’s the most powerful too.”

“I have one more question.” Twilight said. “Are sirens born randomly?”

“No. Sirens can be brought into the universe two ways by design or they’re chosen. Being chosen is a great honor. When Harmony perished her soul was spread out throughout the universe. She chooses who gets to be a siren. Like you Twilight.” Twilight smiled at that.

“Design is when two powerful sirens come together and put their energy and magic to make a siren. That way hasn’t been done for a while.”

“How do you know about that?” Teresa asked. Maya looked down and blushed slightly.

“Well… because l did it.” she twiddled her thumbs.  They’re eyes widened.

“I thought you guys were just good friends!” Teresa shouted.

“Yeah,” Junior said, “ _very_ good friends.”

“No guys. We didn’t have children because we _loved_ each other. We designed two daughters for hierarchy reasons.”

“How was it?” August asked.

“It took a long time and was very tiring.”

“I bet it was.”

“We didn’t make sirens how people make children, guys. It’s a different process.”

“Where are your daughters now?” Twilight asked. Maya seemed to fade a little.

“There… dead.” Everyone winced at that. There was a moment of silence.

“I’m / sorry” Zer0 said. “What were / their names?”

“Zenith and Empyrean.” There was another moment of silence. “Well, that’s enough of the sad stuff. Now I can get to tell you my story.” Everybody was excited to her what she had to tell.

“I’ll start from the beginning obviously…”

* * *

Maya slowly woke up. Her body was in pain and her mind a blur. She groaned and rolled on her back. She looked at the orange sky with tired eyes. The air smelled of ash and blood. She couldn’t remember what had hit her. She looked to her right. She seemed to be on some kind of rocky land surrounded by lava. Something a few feet away on the ground caught her eye. It was a dwarf with blue hair. _Salvador_. It came back to her at once. Pandora, the Vault, her friends killed, Rhys, _Lilith_. She sat up quickly. Salvador, _Brick_ , _Mordechai_ , _Bloodwing_ and _Roland_ were dead, but she didn’t see Lilith die. Was she still alive? She had to be.

“Good, you’re up.” She froze as she heard that same taunting voice. She looked to her left and saw Rhys looking down at her. His tattoos glowed lightly and his hair swayed slightly. His eyes glowed with power. He was terrifying. Behind him was the _Warrior_ in all its glory. It looked down at her with fire in its eyes. She looked at Rhys and the Vault Guardian behind him. She felt small and weak. She had a hard time finding her voice.

“W-where’s Lilith?” her voice was shaky. A smirk appeared on her face.

“Oh, right I forgot. You and she had a special connection. I’m sorry to say that she’s dead. I killed her.” Her eyes widened. That couldn’t happen. Lilith was going to be the one who would teach her what it meant to be a siren. Lilith was dead. She felt defeated. Probably because she was. Her reason to come to Pandora was to learn about sirens. She had lost that. She looked down and gritted her teeth.

“If you’re going to kill me,” she said quietly, “then kill me.” There was a pause.

“No.” she looked up at him with surprise when he said that. “I’m not going to kill you Maya; you’re special.”

“If you’re not going to kill me then what do you want?”

“I want to teach you about sirens.” She cocked her head.

“Why?”

“Because you deserve to know what it means to be a siren.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Because I’m the only one who can teach you. Lilith knew a lot, but not as much as I do. I’m the eldest siren alive. I know some powerful stuff.” He leaned down and looked her in the eye. “I know you came to Pandora to find out what it means to be a siren. Lilith was going to help you. Now that she’s dead you feel lost. You don’t have to be. I can teach you everything you need to know. I can make you the _Queen Siren_ , Maya.” He stood back up and held out his tattooed hand towards her. “Take my hand Maya and stand with me.”

She stared at the hand. If she took it she could complete her ultimate goal. That’s what Lilith would want for her. Right? She began to reach her tattooed hand towards his. She hesitated for moment before grabbing his hand. She immediately felt bursts of energy course through her entire body. It wasn’t like Lilith’s energy however. Her energy was warm and uplifting. His energy was like a shock of power coursed through her body; it made her feel on edge. He pulled her up to her feet.  She let go of his hand and dusted herself off. She then looked up at the Warrior. It stared down at her with a curious look.

“Go on.” He said gesturing to the beast. “Say hello.” She took a couple steps towards it.

“Um hello.” She gave a small wave. The Warrior gave a bellowing roar that shook the earth. She jumped back. It began to move its front legs out of the boiling lava and onto land. The Warrior then bowed its head until it touched the ground in front of her. She stared at it in shock.

“Don’t worry.” He said walking her towards it. “He’s just showing you respect.”

“Showing me what?”

“Respect. You are a siren. He respects that.”

“He tried to kill me.”

“That’s because I told him to, but now he won’t harm you.” She looked at the bowed position of the Warrior. She reached out her tattooed hand and touched his muzzle. The beast was extremely warm and vibrated with energy. She was amazed at how he felt. She put her other hand on him and gently rubbed her hands over the rocky skin. He gave a low rubble. She smiled.

“Isn’t he amazing.” Rhys said as he put a hand on the beast.

“He sure is. What are you going to do with him?” she took her hands of him.

“I plan to keep him here until I need him. Leave us.” He said simply. The Warrior lifted himself up from his position. He went back into the lava and walked away. As he walked away his body went deeper into the lava until he disappeared underneath the molten fire.

“I have something else to show you.” He said walking to the Vault key imbedded in the ground. He kneeled down and place his tattooed hand upon the key. The key lit up and projected a 360-degree live picture of the universe. She looked at it in awe.

“What is this?”

“This is a Vault map.” He stood back up. He pointed at one of the plants and it maximized. Pandora spun around slowly in front of them. Multiple Vault Symbols were placed on parts of Pandora’s surface.

“Those are Vaults?”

“Yes, they are.” There was a pause.

“Now what?” she asked. He looked at her and grinned.

“Now I teach you what it means to be a siren. You’re going to love it.” She didn’t know where this was going to go but she hoped it was a brighter future.

Maya, a siren trying to reach her ultimate goal, was twenty-seven.

* * *

Maya and Rhys were in the middle of nowhere. Rhys had taken them to one of Pandora’s deserts to train. There were no bandits, psychos, or animals around. She still couldn’t get use seeing Pandora so empty.

“Okay,” Rhys said standing in front of her, “we are out here today to focus of your aerial agility and combat. I chose this place because there’s wide open space for you to fly.” He walked a few feet away from her. He waved his tattooed hand. Three big Atlas turrets appeared from thin air and landed on the ground. They were turned towards Maya. He teleported onto a nearby rock and put his hands behind his back.

“Take to the air.” He commanded. She wielded her wings into existence and flapped them. She hovered in the air. She had learned how to fly some time ago. As it turned out it was rather easy to summon wings than it was flying. It was more than just flapping her wings. She had to find something inside of her.

“Okay let’s begin.” The turrets fired. Over a dozen bullets sped towards her. She put her tattooed hand out and her tattoos glowed. A shield of blue energy appeared in front of her. She learned that sirens had magic and energy stored in them. Sirens could do a lot of things with that energy and magic. She learned how to use that energy to craft shields; among other things. She also put her phaselock energy into the shield; giving it extra strength. The bullets ricochet of the shield.

“When being in the air in a fight you need to protect your wings.” He shouted over the firing turrets. She dropped her shield and immediately flew to the right. The turrets turned after her, but couldn’t keep up with her. As she flew around them a storm of bullets followed close behind her. His eyes followed her. “If your wings get highly injured you will fall to the ground, hard. If you do fall make sure to always land on your feet.”

She kept that in mind as she charged an attack. She stopped and faced the turrets. She fired three orbs of energy at the trio of turrets. The first orb made contact with the bullets, destroying them. The other two energy orbs made impact with the turrets. The turrets instantly exploded. A cloud of dust kicked up. There was the sound of bullets firing. Her eyes widened as she saw bullets coming at her.

She put up a shield, but not before two bullets could make it two her. The bullets imbedded themselves in her right shoulder. She gave a cry of pain and fell a little distance down before she steadied herself. She still had the focus to keep her shield up. She used her other hand to dig out the bullets in her shoulder; she grunted in pain. Her hand was covered in her blood. She changed her shield into a wave of force at the turret. It destroyed the bullets and the turret once it got to it.

Her shoulder began to heal. She learned that sirens had the ability to heal. She hovered back to the ground. She heard clapping from behind. She turned around to see Rhys walking towards her clapping his hands together.

“That was great. Now on to the second portion. Take to the air and summon your blade.” She took to the air again and this time summoned her blade.

She had learned that a blade was one of the strongest weapons a siren could have. A blade was a sirens energy, magic, and soul put into a weapon. Depending on the siren depends how the blade would be. Her blade was full of force and numbing to come in contact with. Summoning her blade seemed to be the easiest thing to her. She also learned that a blade was supposed to have a name. She named her blade _Vehement_. Vehement meant strong, intense, and forceful.

_Lilith had a blade. It was named-_

Rhys materialized his wings and took to the air also. He summoned his blade _Insanity_. She never found out why he had named his blade that. She felt uncomfortable every time he summoned _Insanity_.

“Now we’re going to work on how you use your blade in the air. Come at me.” She did. She flew at him as fast as she could. She swung _Vehement_ at his neck. He brought up _Insanity_ and blocked her attack. They went on like that, her attacking and him dodging or blocking. She came at every angle and every direction. She was trying to land a blow on him and was trying out new attacks. She didn’t have to worry about hurting him because he was stronger and her attacks didn’t leave a scratch on him. She let go of her blade; it floated in front of her.

She then split her blade into sixteen smaller parts. She thrusted her hand forward and sent _Vehement’s_ shards towards him. He did the same, splitting _Insanity_ into twenty-six shards. When their blade shards met hers went out, but his still came at her. She bolted to the left with a powerful flap of her wings. She reformed her blade. He also reformed his blade and came at her faster than she thought possible. She blocked a strike and another one, then ducked under a punch. Their roles had switched. He was attacking and she was defending. Her wings were flapping erratically as she did her best to protect herself.

He managed to get past her blade and punched her in the chest. There was a crack as two of her ribs broke. The air was pushed out of her lungs and she was sent flying back. He followed her. She came to a stop and her ribs began pulling themselves back together. She lifted _Vehement_ as he swung _Insanity_ at her. As he sung down he broke _Insanity_ into two halves. The first half of _Insanity_ met _Vehement_ and it went out. The second half brushed past her left shoulder and shredded her wing.

She cried in pain and fell out of the sky. As she fell she remembered that Rhys said to land on her feet. She twisted her body in midair and landed on her feet. Her legs stung from the impact. Her eyes widened as she felt an attack coming from above. She used the strength in her legs to jump forward and out of the way. The blast of energy hit the ground where she had been only moments before. She painted from the lack of oxygen. Her ribs were almost healed. She winced and looked behind her at her wing. The feathers, muscles, and bone were mangled at the point of impact. It was limp at her side. She felt her wing began to heal itself.

“That was really good.” Rhys said as he glided down in front of her. His wings disappeared. Her ribs healed with a couple of cracks. She grunted.

“Yeah, if you call breaking your ribs and wing, good.” She gestured to her healing wing.

“I did that on purpose. I wanted to see if you remembered to land on your feet and you did. You have done great in your training.” Her bone wing snapped back into place and feathers grew back. She wiggled her healed wing and smiled. She made her wings disappear. She had learned a lot about sirens. She was happy that her questions were finally getting answers.

Maya, siren in training, was thirty years old.

* * *

Maya sped down the hall of the Atlas building. She had gone on a flight when Rhys had told her to come to his office. It was an emergency. She knocked on the doors to Rhys’ office.

“What is it?!” Rhys screamed from the other side of the doors. He sounded upset.

“It’s Maya, Rhys.” There was a pause. The door opened and she walked in. The doors closed behind her. Rhys was pacing back and forth behind his desk. His usual regal demeaner was gone.

“What’s the problem?” she asked. He stopped pacing and turned to face her.

“Angel!” he screamed throwing her hands in the air. “She destroyed another one of Atlas’ main bases!”

“I thought you said Angel wouldn’t be a problem anymore?” she took a step forward.

“I thought that too when I tore her wings off, but no! She had to go and get mechanical wings! Now because of that this war with Sanctuary my go on longer!” he punched his desk with his mechanical hand. The desk had another crack on it.

“Woah calm done Rhys.” She put a hand on the desk. “We won’t win with that attitude.” He looked at her and took a deep breath.

“You’re right.” He quickly straightened up and regained his regal demeaner.

“Why did you want me here?” she put her arms over her chest.

“Oh right.” He walked out from behind the desk and walked in front of her. “I wanted you here to tell you that you’re going to kill Angel.” Her eyes widened.

“You want me to kill Angel?!” she screamed. “Isn’t she like your daughter?!”

“Yes, she was.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “She was my daughter, but now she’s a monster.”

“How can you say that?!”

“Because I saw what she has become Maya. War has changed her!” he shook her shoulders. “She is no longer the Angel you knew! She is no longer _my_ Angel!” For a moment, she saw his eyes look truly hurt and sad, but only for a moment. He sighed. “I know that it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. If you kill her you would be doing everyone a favor. Including her. Please?” she looked into his eyes. They were pleading. Maybe he was right? Maybe Angel wasn’t an angel anymore? She sighed.

“Fine I’ll do it, but isn’t she stronger than me? How am I supposed to kill her?”

“With this.” He stepped back. He reached inside his vest. He pulled out a gem. The gem was fiery orange and smooth. It was the shape of a phoenix. It glowed slightly. She stared at it in awe. It reminded her of someone.

“What is that?”

“This is going to boost your powers.”

“Is it eridium?” he made a disgusted face.

“No. I created it. This won’t harm you like eridium.”

“So, do I crush it and absorb it.”

“No!” he said loudly. “Do not crush it. Here I’ll do it for you.” He then put the gem on her chest. It went inside her chest and she felt the power inside her triple. She gasped and fell to the ground. She felt her body began to bend and morph. Her tattoos glowed brighter than ever. She felt a familiar warmth rise inside her. It was quite painful, but the extra energy inside her numbed the pain. Finally, a ripple of orange energy went over here body. Her hair grew longer and began to flow like waves. Her tattoos pulsed orange then it stopped. The glow of her body faded until the only glow was the gem in her chest. That too soon faded. She coughed; trying to get back up. Her legs felt weird. She stumbled and fell over.

“Ouch.” She mumbled.

“You might feel disorientated.” He said. He held out a hand. She took it and he helped her up. Something was different. She originally went to Rhys’ chin. Now she was as tall as him.

“What did that do to me?”

“I gave you the power of an older siren. Come look.” He led her to a full body mirror. She gasped when she saw herself. Her hair changed colors and was longer. It was still blue, but it faded to a lighter blue. Not only that it sparkled and flowed around her in waves. Her body had gotten bigger causing her clothes to tear. She looked herself up and down and smiled. She felt really good.

“I could get used to this.”

“Yeah after you kill Angel I’m taking that power back.”

“Dang it. So, when do I leave?”

“Today.” He said simply. She spun around and faced him with wide eyes.

“Today!” she yelled.

“Yes today. C’mon follow me.” He then turned and walked to the door. She followed close behind. After a stop to get her silver armor they went outside to the front of the Atlas building. She was nervous about killing Angel, but excited to try out her new power.

“Remember,” he was telling her, “just because of the power I gave you doesn’t mean it will be easy to kill her. She is connected to every sever on Pandora that isn’t mine.”

“Geez.”

“I have a way to defeat her.” He pulled out a port drive from his vest and handed it to her. “That contains a virus I made that will completely destroy her connection with anything. You just need to put this into her port.”

“Sounds easy.”

“Oh, and after you kill her bring me something of hers so I now you completed the job.”

“I won’t disappoint you.” Her wings materialized behind her back. She flapped her wings. There was a loud crack as she broke the sound barrier from a stand still. She was propelled into the air faster than she thought possible. The world had turned into a blur. She stopped several hundred feet above the ground. She smiled and laughed at how fast she was. She took off again in the direction of where Angel was.

_“Okay,”_ she thought to herself, _“just put the drive in Angel’s port and take something that belongs to her. Easy.”_

**_“It won’t be.”_**   She whipped her head around in surprise as she heard a female voice that wasn’t her own sounded inside her head. She stopped again.

“Who said that?” she said aloud.

**_“I did.”_** The female voice said again. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn’t remember where.

“Who are you?”

**_“Rhys created me with the power gem. I’m here to help you kill Angel.”_ **

“Okay.” she said awkwardly. “If your gonna help me you I need to call you something. I’m not gonna say ‘voice in my head’.”

**_“You can call me Lilly. Now we must keep going.”_ **

“Okay Lilly. Let’s do this.” She took off once more. It didn’t take long for to reach the Atlas Base Angel had been attacking. The base looked like it had been raided. Broken loader bots and corpses of soldiers littered the ground. Fires were everywhere. She angled her wings and dived. She was heading towards the ground at an alarming rate.

_“Should I slow down?”_ She asked in her head.

**_“You don’t have to. Your body can absorb the force of hitting the ground at the speed you’re going at. Just land on your feet.”_** She didn’t slow down. She made sure to land on her feet. There was a loud thud as she hit the ground like a boulder. The ground was crushed under feet and dirt shot out. She didn’t feel any pain in her legs. She looked around, but Angel was nowhere to be seen.

_“Where is she?”_

**_“Don’t worry she’s coming. She wants to make an entrance.”_ **

The building at the end of the street exploded into flames. Angel flew out from the flames. She had two big silver metal wings on her back. The mechanical wings had the bone structure of wings. Lavender colored energy made up the feathers. There was a wiring sound as the gears in her back moved. She landed on the ground with a hard thud. Maya noticed that Angel’s right leg was mechanical up to her knee. She wore tight fitting black armor. The armor had lavender and silver lining. On her mechanical shoulder was her symbol. It was a capital ‘A’ that had wings. She was covered in blood. She gave a wolfish grin and shouted:

“So, you’re the queen I’ve heard about. Finally come to face me.”

**Angel**

**Deadliest Female Siren Alive**

Maya stared at her in shock. Angel had changed a lot.

**_“Don’t tell her who you are. It’s for the best.”_ **

“So, what drew you out?” Angel said casually. “Was it because you wanted to or because Rhys told you to?” Maya thought of response.

“No. Because you’re causing too much trouble. I decided to take care of you myself.” Angel laughed.

“You think you can kill me. I must admit you do look pretty strong. I’d love to see you try to kill me.” Her tattoos glowed and a shaft of lavender energy came into her hand. It looked like digital code. It was her blade, _Valhalla_. She spread her wings out.  Her smile widened.

Maya did the same. _Vehement_ was stronger now.

**_“Let her attack fir-“_** Angel lunged forward before Lilly could finish. Maya lunged also. Their blades met and Maya was surprised at how strong Angel’s blade was. Maya pushed Angel back and came at her. Angel and Maya fought with their blades. Angel was a better bladecaster. She got past Maya’s guard and had her on defense.

**_“You have more power. Use it.”_ **

Maya did. When she swung she put more force behind it. Angel began to do more defensing and less attacking. Maya smiled underneath her helmet. She could make this quick. She activated phaselock. Angel was encased in purple energy. She couldn’t move. Her face contorted with rage. She used her mind to hit Maya with a wave of force that could uproot a tree. She was thrown backwards. She landed on her feet several meters away. Angel landed also.

“Strong as you look. _Executing Phaseshift._ ” Angel’s voice sounded cold and mechanical. Her rose ECHO eye lit up. Maya’s eyes widened as she saw every loader bot on the ground came to life. The red eye on the loaders were now rose-colored. They turned their guns toward her and fired. The bullets were different. They were lavender shaded and more powerful.

**_“Shield now!”_** Lilly barked. Maya created a shield around herself. The bullets thundered against her shield.

_“What do I do now?”_ she screamed in her head.

**_“Turn your shield into an outward blast of energy.”_** Maya put more energy into her shield and sent it out. The energy blast went out and destroyed the first row of loaders. She then charged a group of loaders. She rammed into the first one; sending it into a building. She punched the second one in the leg; the entire thing collapsed. A loader pinned her to the ground with its leg. It would have kept her there if she wasn’t ten times stronger than it. She grabbed the leg and pushed up. It was sent into the air and landed with a crash. She jumped to her feet.

**_“Behind you.”_** Maya turned around to see Angel flying at her; _Valhalla_ out stretched. Maya made a fist with her tattooed hand and covered it in energy. She winded her fist back. Angel swung. Before _Valhalla_ could hit Maya, she punched Angel in the face as hard as she could. There was a loud crack as Angel’s face crunched under the blow. She was thrown back and into a building. Maya smiled.

She turned back to the hoard of loader bots. They fired at her. She summoned _Vehement_ and split it into sixteen parts and sent them at the loaders. The shards tore through the loaders like tissue paper. She threw herself forward with a flap of her blue wings. She busted through a loader and reformed _Vehement_. With a swing, she cut a loader in two.

Two big pieces of rubble were encased in a blue aura as she grabbed them with telekinesis. She hurled them at the loaders. Three loaders were downed by the attack. She then slammed _Vehement_ into the ground point first. Her blade went into the ground and a corrosive wave of force went through the ground. Every loader in range of the blast exploded. Pieces of metal were scattered over the ground.

A big shadow descended upon her. She looked up to see part of a wall coming at her. She reformed _Vehement_ and cut the wall in half. She was met with a horrible surprise. Angel was right behind the wall with _Valhalla_ pointed at Maya. Not being able to dodge it in time she hit herself with a blast of force. She wasn’t fast enough; _Valhalla_ hit her and she felt an extreme amount of pain in her chest. She was thrown back and hit the ground with a hard thud. She was on her side not facing Angel. She looked down at her chest. A long diagonal gash was across it. She hissed in pain. Strands if blue hair blocked her vision. Her eyes widened as she realized her helmet was off. She heard footsteps behind her.

“It’s time to show your face ‘queen’.” Angel sneered from behind.

**_“Oh no.”_** Maya slowly turned her head and looked up into Angel’s heterochromatic eyes. Those eyes immediately widened.

“M-Maya.” She stuttered taking a step back.

“Angel.” Maya said beginning to stand up. “I know this looks bad, but-“

“How… I thought you were dead. Everyone thinks you’re dead” Her eyes began to water. “How could you do this?” Maya was standing up by now. She held her hands up.

“Angel you don’t understand what happened.”

“Oh, I understand plenty.” Her voice was sharper. “You betrayed us so you get more power.”

“No, it’s not like that.”

“It looks exactly like that. You, selfish witch!” she screamed the last part. Her eyes filled with hatred. Her tattoos glowed brightly. “I’m going to enjoy killing you!” She then punched Maya in the chest where her healing wound was. The gash reopened and she screamed in pain and she flew backwards. She landed on her stomach.  She looked up to see Angel glaring down at her. Her eyes were filled with rage and tears. She kicked Maya in the stomach with her mechanical leg. She was sent through the air once more. After she landed she coughed up blood.

“Angel, please let me explain!” there was pain in her voice.

“Go to **Hell**!” Angel screamed kicking her in the head. Her head snapped and she was once again thrown backwards. This time she collided with a wall and fell to the ground. She didn’t try to get back up.

**_“Maya, I know how to save you_**. ** _”_** Lilly said quickly.

_“What is it?”_ she said weakly in her head.

**_“Let me take control of your body.”_** Maya saw Angel fly a her with _Valhalla_.  Maya knowing, she was out of options said:

_“Okay.” Valhalla_ went to decapitate Maya. _Valhalla_ met _Vehement_. Angel had a look of confusion on her face. Maya looked up at Angel. Her eyes were different. They were fiery orange. A corrosive wave of force sent Angel back. She landed on her feet several meters away. Maya stood back up. Her wounds instantly healed and her wings materialized. They were different also. At their tips, the busted into blue flames. Her hair moved like fire and her tattoos had flames dancing off them. _Vehement_ was in her hand; brighter than ever. Angel was a little taken back by Maya’s new appearance.

_Lilly_ broke the sound barrier from a standstill and flew towards Angel. Angel was just able to raise her blade to block Lilly’s strike. Lilly attacked again and again. Angel was just scrapping by. She was shocked at how Maya’s fighting prowess had changed so quickly. Lilly uppercut Angel. There was a loud crack and she was sent up into the air. Lilly flowed after her. Angel rolled in the air while Lilly roared past her. Lilly banked hard. She turned towards Angel. She thrusted _Vehement_ forward and blue flames poured forth. Angel flew out the way. The flames hit the ground below creating an inferno next to a building.

Lilly came at Angel again. Angel could barely keep up with Lilly’s strikes. Angel faltered and Lilly was able to quickly stab her in her tattooed shoulder. She cried in pain. Lilly flew back and thrusted her blade forward and fire poured forth once more. Angel couldn’t dodge it this time. She was severely burned by the fire and her feathers were eaten up by the flames. Feathers gone she fell out of the sky. Lilly flew after her and pushed her down faster as they fell. There was a crack as the sound barrier was broken. Angel hit the ground with the force of a meteor. The ground shook from the impact.

Angel grew her feathers back and tore herself from the ground. She tried to fly away. Lilly wasn’t going to let that happen. She flew in front of Angel and swung _Vehement_ at her. Angel instinctively mustered _Valhalla_ to block the strike. _Valhalla_ met _Vehement_ and went out. Lilly grabbed Angel by her hair. She looked into Angel’s eyes. They weren’t filled with anger or hatred. They were filled with fear. Lilly took out the drive Rhys gave her. She turned Angel’s head to the side and slammed the drive into Angel’s port.

Angel gave an agonizing scream. She held her head in pain. Her ECHO eye turned golden yellow and glitched out. Her wings sparked and locked up. The feathers fading. Her mechanical limbs twitched out spitting sparks. The loader bots below spit out sparks before falling to the ground. She gave one finally scream before her eyes rolled back in their sockets and she fell out of the air. She landed on the roof of the building that had the inferno next to it.

Maya took back control of her body. Her original appearance returned. She had seen everything that had just happened.

_“How did you do that?”_ She asked as she landed on the roof.

**_“Rhys made me, remember. I have his fighting skills.”_** Maya looked down at the fallen angel. She wasn’t breathing. Maya needed to get something of Angel’s. She looked at her mechanical arm. Her symbol on the shoulder was good enough. She kneeled down and pulled the piece of metal. After a firm tug it came off. She had completed her mis-

Pain. She felt immense pain in her chest. She looked down to see _Valhalla_ through her chest. She looked at down Angel. Her ECHO eye was dead, but her other eye was filled with anger. She grabbed Maya’s tattooed shoulder and pulled her to the side. In a swift movement Maya was on her back with Angel on top of her. Her mechanical arm was limp at her side. She sneered down at Maya.

“You thought you could kill me Maya! Guess what you can’t!” Angel screamed. Maya coughed up blood as she felt _Valhalla_ tear up her heart. She put her hands on Angel’s shoulders and threw her to the ground. They both lay sideways facing each other. _Valhalla_ was still imbedded in Maya’s chest. She brought up both her feet and kicked Angel in the stomach. She gave a cry of pain and was sent tumbling over the edge. _Valhalla_ was ripped out Maya’s chest. She would have fallen into the raging inferno underneath her and died if not for Maya grabbing her mechanical hand. Maya held onto Angel’s hand with her tattooed hand. She was on her stomach leaning over the edge. She looked into Angel’s eyes.

“I’m sorry Angel.” She choked out. “I’m sorry for what I did. I understand why you hate me and that’s okay. I don’t want to kill you Angel. I don’t want you to live this life you’re living. I don’t want you to die. So please try and live a life worth living. Please.”

Angel looked stunned for a moment and gave a heartfelt smile. Maya smiled to. She began to lift Angel up. When Angel was eye level with Maya she attacked. She summoned a shard of _Valhalla_ and swung at Maya’s neck screaming:

“Die!” Maya’s reflexes kicked in and she threw herself back. She had a tight grip on Angel’s hand. So, much so that when she lurched back, she tore Angel’s mechanical hand clean off. Angel fell into the inferno; she screamed. Maya looked down and saw the flames grow bigger as they ate the body inside. Just like that Angel was gone. Maya had no expression on her face.

**_“It is done.”_** Maya hunched over as she felt her wound healing. That had been extremely painful. It didn’t take long for the wound to heal. She straightened up and looked around. She saw a person standing to the left of the street. The woman was wearing a white outfit with a hat to match. Maya realized that it was Fiona. She looked at Maya with green eyes and gave a nod. Maya nodded back. She didn’t know why.

“Angel!” Maya heard a male voice scream. A man was running down the street towards the inferno. The woman came in front of him and held him back as he tried to get through. “No Angel!”

**_“That’s are que to leave.”_ **

_“Right.”_ Maya flapped her tired wings and took flight towards the Atlas base.

_“Did you know who that man was back there?”_

**_“That was Angel’s father. Don’t feel bad. He knew she was die someday.”_** There was a pause.

_“What happened to her?”_

**_“Well, Rhys happened.”_ **

_“What do you mean by that?”_

**_“I mean that because of his decisions, Angel isn’t the ‘angel’ she was supposed to be.” _**There was another pause.

_“Thank you for your help Lilly. I couldn’t have done it without you.”_

**_“Your welcome. You weren’t so bad yourself.”_ **

Maya, deadliest female siren alive was thirty-four.

“Angel was like that.” Teresa asked and interrupted. She was stunned at picturing Angel acting like that.

“Yes, she was.” Maya said. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. Please continue.”

* * *

Maya looked around from the top of a building. She saw the final battle of Sanctuary unfold. Her armor gleamed in the sunlight. She didn’t have that extra power anymore. She had returned to her original height. What didn’t change was her hair. Her hair had stopped flowing, but the color and length stayed the same. She and Rhys had just got rid of the Vault Hunters with the Vault of the Tempest. With them dead they could take over Sanctuary. Did she feel bad about her old Vault Hunter friends? Yes. She felt bad that they had to die so that she could win.  

Rhys had told her to look over Sanctuary while he dealt with John. John apparently was the man Fiona left in charge. She watched as Atlas and Hyperion soldiers, and loader bots battled the citizens of Sanctuary. Some fought, some ran, all died. She saw Wilhelm having a blast killing. He was a cyborg now. Most of his body was now mechanical. He didn’t use his cybernetics for smarts though. He used them for brute force and to appease his obsession with cybernetics.

She needed to look around. She materialized her wings and took off. Sanctuary was losing. That wasn’t a surprise to her. With the Vault Hunters gone Sanctuary didn’t stand a chance. The citizens put up less of a fight. She saw multiple groups of people on their knees with their hands up. They were really close to winning.

“Hey Qeeny!” She heard a voice shout. She looked down and saw Wilhelm motioning for her to come down. She glided down to the ground.

“What is it Wilhelm?”

“Were pretty much done here. Man, it felt good to stretch my legs. Why didn’t you join in on the fun?”

“I didn’t join in on the ‘fun’ because I was making sure everything was going as planned. Wrap everything up; were done here.” She looked over to HQ. “I need to see if Rhys is finished.” She flapped her wings and took off towards HQ.

Once she was inside she looked around for Rhys. She didn’t hear any fighting going. Maybe Rhys won already. She found him on the second floor. She was shocked at what she saw. The room was large with desks and chairs scattered everywhere. Rhys was at the center of the room. He was on his knees hunched over something. No, not something someone. As she got closer she saw who Rhys was holding. John was in his arms. He was out cold.  Her eyes widened as she realized she had seen John before. He was Angel’s father. Something clicked in her head.

Rhys had called Angel his daughter. John was Angel’s father. John was one of the people Rhys was friends with; like Vaughn. No, not like Vaughn. Rhys was more connected to John than Vaughn. John and Rhys had been more than just friends.

“Rhys are you okay?” she asked quietly. His body went ridged at the sound of her voice. He slowly straightened up. He turned his head enough so that he could see her. She noticed that he had tears in his eyes. This was the first time she saw him with tears in his eyes.

“Everything is fine Maya.” His voice was strained.

“Did you win?”

“… Yes… yes I did.” He then stood up. He was holding John bridal style in his arms. “You can tell them we won. I need to go.” His tattoos lit up.

“Wait. What are going to do with him?” he stopped.

“Don’t worry you won’t see him again.” In a bright flash of light, he was gone. She blinked a couple of times. She was going to tell Hyperion and Atlas they won. She flew out of HQ. The soldiers had been waiting outside. She hovered in the air above them. In a booming voice, she said:

“Victory is ours!” the soldiers cheered, clapped, and pated each other on the back. She didn’t clap or cheer. It had taken seven years to finally win. She was glad the war was finally over. But she felt like she shouldn’t be happy about this victory. So, she just landed on the ground and watched as everybody else cheered.

* * *

“Did you actually see the King cry?” August interrupted this time.

“Yeah I did. It was strange.” Maya said.

“Wait,” Twilight said, “does that mean the King has feelings?”

“Well yes. He does have feelings, but… very little. Now let’s get back on track.” __

* * *

Maya looked at the Vault’s entrance. This was the last Vault on Pandora. The Vault of the Saint. She and Rhys had been hunting all the Vault’s on Pandora for some years. She wore her classic armor, but without the helmet. She enjoyed hunting Vaults. She learned that when a siren dies their soul is transferred into a Vault. That is what made Vaults accessible to this universe. If a siren was strong enough they could pull their energy together to make a physical form. If a siren isn’t strong enough they go into a deep sleep until their soul eventually fades away. She hadn’t opened a Vault that had a physical siren inside it.

She also learned that most Vault Guardians will try to kill you. Unlike the Warrior, she and Rhys had to kill the guardian to get to the treasure. The treasure was either loot or an ancient artifact. If it was loot they would give it to the Vault Hunters that came with them. If it was an artifact Rhys would keep it. She didn’t get the treasure. She didn’t want it. She hunted Vaults for the adventure and thrill. She was a queen; kind of. She didn’t need money. She was at the top.

She looked to her right to see Rhys standing next to her. Since this was the last Vault on Pandora it was just her and Rhys going in.

“Last one on Pandora.” She said casually. “That happened fast.”

“Yeah I know. You ready to see what’s inside The Vault of the Saint?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” They began to walk into the Vault.

She felt the familiar tingling sensation as she went through the entrance. She loved how it felt to be inside a Vault. It filled her with pure energy. She looked at her tattoos. They glowed with power. Also, her hair had begun to sparkle and flow again. She looked at Rhys. He looked the same way. She then looked around the Vault. The Vault was a circular arena surrounded by white flames. Beyond the arena were huge pillars of a white crystal. The sky was a mix of blues and stars decorated the heavens.

“Do you think this Vault’s guardian won’t attack?” she asked.

“I highly doubt it.” They walked further into the Vault. The Vault Guardian was taking it’s time to appear.

“Do we need to draw it out?” she asked.

“Maybe.” She held out her hand and an energy orb manifested. She threw the orb out of the arena. The orb flew out of sight. Nothing happened for a moment. A horrific shriek cut through the air. A huge beam of white light roared towards them. They quickly jumped out the way. The beam hit a pillar and caused it to shake. A smile appeared on her lips as she got combat ready. She looked at where the beam originated from. A looming silhouette of a giant came towards them. It didn’t take long for it to come into the light.

It was a giant gladiator. The rocky armor had cracks that formed multiple symbols. Through the cracks bright white light shone through.  It carried a crystal sword in its clawed hands. The gladiator had on a helmet where two purple eyes glowed. Purple flames erupted from the back of its head that flowed upwards. It raised its sword and gave another shriek.

**The Saint**

**Guardian of the Vault**

“You ready?” Rhys asked. He already had summoned _Insanity_. She scoffed and brought _Vehement_ to life.

“Hell ya.” The Saint attacked.

They fought. Two sirens against a Vault Guardian. The Saint used its size and strength against them. Along with white beams of Eridian energy. Maya and Rhys worked together to try and bring it down. They used their blades, strength, and pure energy to attack. When the sirens became too much to handle it called upon guardians. Even with the help of the guardians the Saint soon fell.

“We did it.” She said happily. “That was one of the best vault fights I had.” She turned to Rhys and held up her tattooed hand for a high five. He looked at her hand with a blank look. “C’mon don’t leave me hanging.” He sighed and high fived her tattooed hand with his own. She felt the shock of energy that went through her body whenever she touched him. When she first felt it made her on edge, but now she didn’t feel like that. It actually didn’t feel pretty bad.  They turned to were the guardian was slain.

When the Saint died its body crumpled to dust. What was left in its place was a weapon. It was a battle axe; it floated in the air. The staff part was long and made out of ancient steal. There were multiple symbols engraved on it. The blade part was made of a purple crystal. The ends of the weapon had crystal points.

“There it is.” She said walking towards it. He walked with her. Once they got to it he reached out and grabbed it with his mechanical hand. When he grabbed it, the symbols glowed yellow gold; along with the crystals. He scanned over it with his eyes. He rubbed his tattooed hand over the multiple symbols. A smile formed on his face.

“This is perfect.” He muttered.

“What is it?”

“It’s an Eridian weapon. Here hold it.” He held out the weapon for her to hold. She took it in her tattooed hand. The axe changed colors from yellow gold to blue. The axe felt light in her hands.

“What do you plan to do with this?” she asked twirling the axe around.

“Well, I plan to save it for something in the future.”

“I wonder what that is.” Her tone was curious.

“I bet you do. Now come. We have to celebrate our victory.” He said the last part like he didn’t want to do it; probably because he didn’t. She noticed that.

“Oh, c’mon. I know you like celebrating victories.” She smiled.

Maya, siren Vault Master was thirty-seven.

* * *

“This is huge!” Maya shouted in astonishment. She was seeing Rhys’ castle for the first time. He had been working on it for some time and she was excited to see the outcome. She stood outside the large castle.

“It is.” Rhys said standing beside her. “It took a while, but it’s finally done. I love how it turned out.”

“I’ve gotta see the inside.”

“Be my guest.” He gestured to the font doors. She ran up to the doors and pushed them open. She was greeted with a wide circular room with various hallways. On the center of the floor was the vault symbol, but without the circle and colored yellow gold.

“You put your symbol in the castle?” she pointed at mark on the floor.

“Of course, I did. The mortals need to get used to it.” She cringed at the word ‘mortals’. He referred people as mortals. He had told her that humans were beneath them. They weren’t immortal. They were mortal. Of course, she didn’t think low of people like Rhys did.

They walked down the main hallway. There were multiple big rooms that were meant for different things. Guards were already inside the castle. They bowed as they walked past. People would to bow to her now and refer to her as ‘ma’am’ or occasionally ‘your highness’. It was strange to her at first, but it didn’t take long for her to get used to it.

He led her to the end of a hallway that had a spiral staircase. As they walked up the stairs she spoke:

“Where are we going?”

“To my private chambers.”

“Oh, are we?” she said raising an eyebrow. He gave her a look.

“Not for that reason.” They reached the top of the stairs. The guards that were gave a bow as they walked to the door. He opened the door and the room was revealed to her. She quickly walked inside and looked around. He walked in and closed the door behind him.

“So, this is your room.” She said looking at the symbol on the ceiling. “Not bad, but I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Do I get a room in the castle? I mean the Atlas building is good and all, but it would be cooler to be in a castle than a regular building.”

“Well I was thinking of making you your own castle.”

“Really?!” she said excitedly. “Where would it be?” he grinned, and walked to the balcony door. She followed. She was greeted with the cool air from the outside. The place of the balcony viewed the city that was being built around the castle. Night had fallen on this side of Pandora. In the sky were stars that shone like tiny beacons, the proud Hyperion space station, Helios, and the gorgeous moon, Elpis. They walked to the edge of the balcony. She looked around the vast lands of Pandora.

“So, where is it gonna be?” placed his mechanical hand under her chin and tilted it up. Her gaze went from the lands of Pandora to the moon in the sky.

“There.” Her eyes widened and she took a step back.

“Elpis!” she shouted.

“Yeah Elpis. What’s wrong with that?”

“You haven’t even taken over Elpis! How am I supposed to put a castle up there?”

“You’re going to conquer Elpis like I did with Pandora.”

“How am I going to do that?”

“I have a lot of people willing to fight for you. You take them up there and claim Elpis as your own.”

“You’re not coming with me?”

“Ha ha, no. You’re going to do this by yourself. On the bright side, I’m going to send Sparta, Orion, and… Sin.”

“Sin?”

“Yes, Sin. Is that a problem?”

“No, it just that he only listens to you.”

“I’ll just tell him to listen to you for the time being.”

“Okay I guess I can do it.”

“Oh, one more thing.” He reached inside his vest and pulled out a square piece of white fabric. He turned it so the front was facing her. Her eyes widened when she saw what was on it. It was a sky-blue circle with a white crescent moon and two white starts inside. The crescent moon was a part of the circle with the two stars next to it.

“What is that?” she said with curiosity.

“Well, you need some sort of symbol to show when you go to Elpis so, I made one for you.” He held out the fabric. She took it and looked over it. “Do you like it? If not, you can change it if you want.”

“No.” she said quickly. “I like it.” She looked up and looked into his eyes. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He turned back to look over the balcony. She turned also. She took a deep breath and glanced at Rhys. He had a calm expression on his face and seemed to be enjoying the scenery. She felt the need to get closer to him. As casually as possible she took a couple steps closer to him. Now they lightly brushed against each other. She felt slight shocks of energy inside her. If he noticed her sudden closeness he didn’t show it. She looked at the night sky; more specifically Elpis. That was going to be hers; one day. She couldn’t wait to get started. __

* * *

“That’s all I can tell you guys today.” Maya said as she finished part of her tale. By now it was night time. Twilight, Teresa, and Junior had lain down on their stomachs half way through the story. They were snapped back to reality when she finished.

“Right now,” she continued, “you guys need to sleep. You’re going to be training tomorrow.”

“Training?” Junior asked.

“Yes training. We’re going to go up against some of the strongest fighters alive and inhumans that you all don’t know how to fight. I need to teach you how to fight them so you don’t get killed. Now,” she stood up, “go to sleep.” She turned around and walked up the hill.

Once she got up to the top of the hill she sat down. She glanced behind her, seeing the others beginning to lay down on the grass. She turned her head to face the stars. This was big. As she said earlier she had started a war with the most powerful siren in the universe. She didn’t know if she could do it, really. If they all were to win they would need to-

She heard footsteps behind her. She turned her head to see Zer0 standing behind her.

“Do you need something?” she asked.

“No, I just wanted / to stay with you / for a while before a rest” Zer0 answered.

“Okay.” She scooted over to make room for him. He sat next to her. They were silent as they watched the stars. Zer0 took a quick glance at Maya. She looked like a goddess with her flowing hair, stunning blue eyes, and her tattoos that seemed to have a soft glow under the moon light. He wondered if she knew how godlike she could look. He thought it was a good look on her.

“Do you need to ask something?” her voice broke the silence.

“What?”

“You’ve been staring at me for a while now. I guessed you wanted to ask me something.” She turned her gaze to him.

“Well actually I / do want to / ask you something” the question he was about to ask was one of his personal burring questions. He read poems and haikus when he was younger. Most of them talked about gods. Gods had had a lot of things that ordinary people didn’t have. One quality that gods had was _immortality_.

“What is it / like being immortal? Lots of people / think immortality / is a curse” She frowned slightly at the question. “You don’t have / to answer if / you don’t want to” he said quickly.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll answer it.” She turned her gaze back to the stars. There was a moment of silence before she spoke. “Yes, immortality can be a curse. You see the people around you, the people you love and care for, age and die. While you stay healthy and alive. It’s not long before everybody you knew is gone. I didn’t realize this until I was over one hundred.

“But immortality is also a gift. You get to help and teach people along the way. You get to see their children grow up and then their children. Seeing people prosper in their victory is a great feeling; especially when you are a part of that. It can get depressing seeing people around pass away, but I had Rhys and a few other people with me. I think without him I probably would have gone insane. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I saw something different in him at times. I think there is good in him. He just has to try, but I know I can’t risk trying to talk him out of this war.” She stopped, took a deep breath and looked back at Zer0.

“Sorry I got off track.”

“No / it’s okay” he assured her. “We could just / stargaze if / you want”

“Yeah.” She turned back towards the night sky. “Yeah we could do that.”

* * *

Rhys stormed through the halls of the castle. Everybody in his path backed away before bowing. Another thing they did was give a surprised look when they saw his appearance. He ignored them. He was too upset to pay them any mind.  He took three stairs at a time as he walked to his private chambers. The guards tried to hide their surprise at the sight of their King. By the time they bowed he was already through the doors.

He immediately went to the mirror in his room and looked at his eye. It had begun ‘bleed’ again. He wiped at it again; growling in frustration when it smeared. He tried grabbing a cloth and wiping it. It stained the cloth and it didn’t stop the bleeding. He threw the cloth at the mirror.

“Why is this happening?!” he screamed.

**“What’s with the screaming?”** a cold female voice came from the mirror. A silhouette of a women with crimson red eyes appeared in the mirror. The women then saw his eye. She laughed.

**“What happened to your eye? You look like your mo-“** He glared knowing what she was going to say. She stopped her sentence.

“To answer your question, it was… Maya.”

**“Maya!”** she said with fake shock. **“I didn’t see that coming! Oh, wait I did.”**

“I get it! You tried to warn me and I didn’t listen blah blah. Now move I’m going to try and fix it.” She scoffed and her form faded from the mirror.

He leaned and brought his hands to the black eye. He kept his eye open with his tattooed hand. He reached around his eyeball with his mechanical hand. The bleeding intensified; black ooze dripped from his chin to puddle on the floor.

**“Ouch!”** She didn’t appear in the mirror, but her voice sounded. **“That looks like it hurts.”** He ignored her. The metal fingers were delicate and made sure not to cut his retina. He winced in pain as he dug his sharpened fingers into his eyeball.

**“Don’t hurt yourself.”** He ignored her again, but was annoyed. He planned on crushing his eye. Not so it destroyed his cybernetics, but so it crushed the organic part. He was going to do it in 3, 2-

**“Be careful. You’re gonna crush your eye.”** That did it.

“Shut up Marta!” he shouted.

**“Fine, geez.”** Time for take two. 1, 2, 3. There was a horrifying pop as he crushed the eye. Black ooze flooded down his face. He gritted his teeth in discomfort and covered his eye with his tattooed hand. He waited for all the ooze to come out. Once he felt it was all out he healed his eye. When the eye was healed he removed his hand. He was upset that the eye was still black and his vision was still darkened, but the eye wasn’t bleeding any more. He wiped the extra ooze off his face.

“Good enough.” He mumbled before turning around and walking towards his bookshelf.

**“Okay now that you fixed your eye,”** Marta appeared in the mirror again. **“what are going to do about Maya and her friends. You might need some help. By help I mean me.”** He stopped and turned to look at her. He thought for a moment.

“Yes. I guess I can release you now.” She immediately lit up.

**“You’re actually gonna release me from this mirror prison. Oh, I’m so excited!”**

“Yeah of course you are.” He continued to walk to the bookshelf. “Today I had another _vision_.” He removed a book from the middle shelf to reveal a small wooden box. “The vision, as usual, was about the final battle of this war.” He grabbed the box and put the book back. “But I didn’t get to see myself winning.” He walked to the desk and set the box down.

“To make sure my victory is garneted were going to need some more help.” He opened the box. Inside were two gems. One was a metallic gold and looked like a coiled snake. The other one was fiery orange and looked like a phoenix. He grabbed the orange gem. He looked over it and a twisted smile formed on his lips.

“From you of course. Old friend.”


	4. The Next Step Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: I want to apologize for the late update. School is back in session and I had less time to work on my story. Please comment, I would like to hear all of you guys’ feedback. I hope you guys enjoy the forth chapter. Happy reading.  
> Disclaimer: I do not own borderlands. I own my original characters, my origin for some characters, and origins for Pandora. This story contains blood, gore, violence, and a grim and dark AU. Viewer discretion is advised.

 

The meeting had been a long and an uninteresting one. It was about how they should even out the money through out Hyperion. The only reason Diesel had not fallen asleep, was because Screwloose kept sending him messages via paper ball. He was seating at the end of the long table while Screwloose sat one seat to the left. He would through the ball in front of the person between them. The person tried their best not to be distracted by the paper throwing. The ball would usual land in front of Diesel on the table, but Screwloose’s aim wasn’t always perfect. Sometimes he would miss and the ball would hit Diesel in the face.

Diesel didn’t respond at first, but after the twentieth paper ball he decided to answer. He had taken a piece of paper from his notebook and used his pen to write,

‘ _What?!’_  he then crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it at Screwloose. He quickly responded; the ball landed in front of Diesel. He picked up the crumpled paper and unfolded it. In yellow-colored messy hand writing read,

_‘Hi!’_ Diesel looks up from the paper to see Screwloose waving at him. He gave a small wave and tried to concentrate back on the person talking at the other side of the table. Screwloose had continued to throw paper balls at him. He officially gave in and they had a conversation. When Diesel ran out of paper that was when the meeting ended. That part of the table was covered in paper balls. He had said something like ‘Good, that works’ and left with Screwloose.

“Screwy why didn’t you message me with paper balls instead of your ECHO eye?” Diesel asked as they walked to his office. Screwloose chuckled.

“What’s the fun in that?! I got to throw paper during a meeting!” Screwloose was Diesels right hand man and kind of his PA also. Because of Screwloose’s ‘condition’ there was someone else to take care of the bigger projects.

“Yeah, did you learn anything from that meeting?” Diesel asked. Screwloose put his mechanical hand on his chin in thought. After a couple of seconds of thinking he said:

“Nope.”

“So, did I.” Diesel said sadly. He had to start paying attention.

“Lucky for you, dear friend of mine, I had the meeting voice recorded.” Screwloose said proudly. “We could listen to it... like a movie without pictures!”

“Thanks.”

“Your Welcome!”

“Who knew being CEO meant you had to suffer through boring meetings.” They passed the assistant’s desk as they walked through the small hallway to get to the office doors. Deiseal turned to Screwloose and said:

“You know you’re getting better with your condition every day.” Screwloose made a confused face at this and tilted his head.

“What condition?”

“Never mind.” Diesel said quickly. The doors to the office opened and they walked through. The office was huge. It could have fit statues if you wanted to. Diesel walked up the stairs to his desk while Screwloose sat at a smaller desk that was close to the stairs. Diesel sat in his big yellow chair and spun it around to look at Elpis behind him.

His father was the CEO before he died of a sickness. His mother stood up and took the place of CEO, but his mother wasn’t a fighter nor knew anything mechanical. She couldn’t teach him. That was when the King stepped in. He decided that he would train him. The King had said that Diesel was different from his ancestor, _Wilhelm_. He hoped that was a good thing. It had taken a long time, but it was worth it. When he became CEO had been connected to Helios. He could control Helios through his cybernetics. It was amazing.

He was suddenly pushed out of Helios’ systems. One moment he was in control of everything then the next he was kicked out. He didn’t control anything in Helios anymore. There was only one person who could that. It was the King.

“Hello people of Pandora, Elpis, and Helios.” The Kings voice came from every television, radio, monitor, computer, and ECHO in Helios. Not just Helios, but also on Pandora and Elpis. Diesel spun around to see his computer monitor turned on. The King’s upper half was showing on the live feed. His appearance was different though. His left eye was pitch black with a white pupil. He seemed to be streaming from his cybernetic hand in his throne room. “It is I your King coming to you with some terrible news.” Screwloose quickly went to Diesel’s side.

“Your beloved Queen Maya has betrayed me.” Diesel eyes widened in shock.

“Holy Siren.” Screwloose gasped beside him.

“I know how some of you find that hard to believe, but it’s true.  She is the one who gave me this black eye.” He gestured to said eye.

“She is going to try and kill me with her little group of friends and takeover _my_ domain. This will sadly lead to more fighting. But if anyone sees her or her friends send a message to Castle Siren better yet subdue them and bring them to the castle alive, she and her friends won’t be a problem anymore. This means Maya is now wanted. I will send out a picture and description of her friends to the top of the wanted list so you know who to look for. Side note,” his voice took a dark tone as he said:

“if you have information about where they are and don’t tell, you will be killed. If you decide to give shelter to the enemy, you will be killed. If you make the idiotic decision to side with Maya and her friends you will, you guessed it, be killed.”

“I’m glad were not on Maya’s side.” Diesel said.

“Yeah, not on her side.” Screwloose said with less energy than usual.

“Because of this there will be changes to the hierarchy. First of all, there will be another Royal to stand with me at Castle Siren. Please meet Queen Marta.” He moved his hand so a woman could come into frame. Not just any women, a Siren. She gave a smile revealing sharpened teeth. She looked frightening.

“Hello, my subjects as King Rhys already said I’m Queen Marta. I’d love to inform you that I will be a great ruler and-“

“That’s good enough.” The King interrupted her. He moved his hand so that he was in frame again. “Secondly, I would like to introduce Maya’s replacement, Princess Empyrean.” He moved his hand to the right to show another Siren. She had fiery orange eyes. She seemed to be nervous.

“Hello, I’m Princess Empyrean and uh I hope you all will enjoy me… being your new ruler.” She then turned her head to the right. “Was that good _father_?” she asked worried.

“It’s a start.” He answered. He moved his hand so that he was in frame again. “That is all for now. Don’t forget to report if see them.” With that the feed cut.

Diesel could feel himself connecting back with Helios’ systems. They were both silent. The information just given to them was intense. Maya was now the enemy, there were two new Sirens, and one of them seemed to be the King’s daughter. Screwloose broke the silence.

“Okay I did not see that coming. What are we going to do?”

“Well, we do whatever the King needs us to do Screwy.” After he said that there was a beep as his computer got a message. He quickly clicked open the message. Diesel smiled as he and Screwloose began to read what the King sent them.

* * *

“Fix your stance so it’s like mine.” Maya said in her strong voice. August grumbled and shifted his feet.

When everyone was fully awake Maya had explained how the training was going to go. She was going to train August, Teresa, and Twilight. She wasn’t going to work with Junior because he said that he didn’t fight. Instead when the time came he was going to be their mechanic. He had made the device in the car. It was an interference device for other devices he made from scrape metal. It was untraceable. She wasn’t going to train Grant because he was already a trained guard. She wasn’t training Zer0 because he fought with sirens before. One of them being Rhys.

Maya’s position was standing up with her right leg in front of her left. She had her hands raised in front of her as fists. She had changed her outfit so she wore a black and blue leotard with black cargo pants and sneakers. Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and her crown was off. Across from her was August, who mimicked her stance.

“Good. When dealing with Orion you need to avoid getting hit and go for his neck or head.” She then ran forward. She swung a punch at his head. He ducked and punched her in the chest. She didn’t seem affected by the attack and continued to punch August on the cheek. There was a loud crack as his jaw was put out of place. He gave a muffled scream and fell to the ground. Junior, Twilight, and Teresa looked up from what they were doing to look in shock. Zer0 and Grant who were sparing some distance away glanced at them before continuing.

“I said go for the neck or head not my chest.” Maya said displeased. “Now get up and try again.” August rubbed his hurting jaw.

“I cank. Gaw iz roken.” The words came out wrong due to his jaw. She rolled her eyes.

“Then fix it.” She said impatiently. Junior began making his way towards them. No doubt to help August. She glared at him and he stopped and turned around. She looked back to August. “When you are out on the battlefield you are going to get hurt obviously. You need to be able to bounce back up or while you’re down your enemy will kill you. Now just put your jaw back in place.”

August gave a quick glare at her before he put his hand to his jaw. With a count to three he pushed his jaw back. There was pop as his bones shifted back into place. He winced at the pain it brought to his jaw. “See that wasn’t so hard.”

“Did you have to hit me that hard.” He grumbled standing up.

“Yes, I did. I was going easy on you. Orion will hit harder than that.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning if he hit you, you would have more than a dislocated jaw.”

“Okay so I just need to put a bullet in his head before that happens.”

“It’s not going to be that easy. He can ten times the bullets you can. It’s going to take a lot to bring him down. Now back to training.” She went back to her original stance. August mimicked her again.

The sound of static came from Maya’s blue bag. She looked at the bag in confusion. “Hold on a sec.” she walked to the pile of their stuff. She knelt down and opened her bag. When she looked inside she saw that her small box radio was turned on. She grabbed it and looked at it.

“What’s the matter?” August asked walking over.

“I don’t know it just-“

“Hello people of Pandora, Elpis, and Helios.” Maya was interrupted when the King’s voice came from the radio. Everyone immediately stopped talking and looked at the radio in Maya’s hand. Even Grant and Zer0 stopped to look. “It is I your King coming to you with some terrible news.”

“We need to destroy it.” August said quickly.

“No. I want to hear what he has to say first.” Maya said. Everybody crowded around her as the King continued to speak.

“Your beloved Queen Maya has betrayed me.”

_“Of course, he would say that.”_ Maya thought angrily in her head.

“I know how some of you find that hard to believe, but it’s true.  She is the one who gave me this black eye. She is going to try and kill me with her little group of friends. This will sadly lead to more fighting. But if anyone sees her or her friends send a message to Castle Siren and she and her friends won’t be a problem anymore. This means Maya is now the enemy. I will send out a picture and description of her friends so you know who to look for.”

_“Great now it will be harder to get into town.”_

“Side note,” his tone of voice changed to a darker one, “if you have information about where they are and don’t tell, you will be killed. If you decide to give shelter to the enemy, you will be killed. If you make the idiotic decision to side with Maya you will, you guessed it, be killed.”

That was the _evil_ side of Rhys, Maya had been blind to.

“Because of this there will be changes to the hierarchy. First of all, there will be another Royal to stand with me at Castle Siren. Please meet Queen Marta.”

“Whose Marta?” Junior asked. He was answered with a shush from Twilight.

“Hello, my subjects as Rhys already said I’m Queen Marta.” The female voice wasn’t like Rhys’. It had a different frightening tone. “I’d love to inform you that I will be a great ruler and-“

“That’s enough.” The King’s voice cut her off. “Secondly, I would like to introduce Maya’s replacement, Princess Empyrean.” Everyone gave a look of shock at this. Empyrean was the name of one of Maya’s daughters.

“Hi, I’m Princess Empyrean and uh I hope you all will enjoy me… being your new ruler.” The voice did not sound or feel like her dead daughter. No, it sounded and felt like someone else. Someone who was also dead. Part of her felt like she knew the Siren, but she refused to believe that. That was until she heard the voice say:

“Was that good father?” She had to stop thinking and take a breath.

“It’s a start. That is all for now. Don’t forget to report if see them.” When he finished talking Maya crushed the radio in her hand and threw it some distance away.

“Well, that’s not good.” Junior commented.

“No crap.” Teresa said. They looked at Maya for answers. She stood up and sighed.

“Okay things just got a whole lot harder.”

“How hard?” Twilight asked; nervous of the answer.

“Instead of dealing with one Siren we have to deal with three.” That got their hopes of winning down.

“Who are the other two Sirens?” Grant asked.

“Well, if you guys remember I told you about my two daughters. Empyrean might be one of them, but that can’t be. She’s dead. If he has somehow brought her back to life we should be able to defeat her.”

“Are you sure we’ll be able to kill Empyrean?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah. She is not as strong as the other Sirens.” Maya quickly answered.

“No, I mean do you think you will be able to… kill your daughter?” Maya looked away.

“I have to. My daughter or not I have to be willing to kill Empyrean if we are going to win.” She looked back at her friends. They looked at her with sympathetic eyes.

“But, Empyrean won’t be half as bad as Marta.” She looked at Zer0. “Zer0 you should remember Marta from the Vault of the Warrior.” He ran the name through his head. He gave an angered sigh as he remembered the horrid siren.

“I do remember her / She’s back”

“What’s the deal with Marta?” Teresa asked.

“The deal with Marta is,” Maya said, “that she was a Siren imprisoned in the mirror realm centuries ago. She was able to appear in mirrors and cause minor hallucinations.”

“That sounds a lot like Bloody Mary.” August commented.

“I think she is Bloody Mary. Anyway, she was also able to come out of the mirror, but as a spirit that could possess people. When, she was ‘killed’ her spirit would go back to mirror realm. Then she would just comeback. The last fight the old Vault Hunters and I had with her, Zer0 was the one who killed. She wasn’t an easy Siren to kill. I had a hard time fighting her. My one worry is Rhys might have broken her fully out of the mirror realm. If he has than Marta will be stronger than last time.”

“Oh, geez what do we do now?” Teresa said panicked. “Were wanted and outnumbered. Our chances of winning our getting lower by the minute.”

“Well now,” Maya said, “I’m going to continue train August.” Teresa made a frown. “Don’t worry, you’re next.”

* * *

Diesel looked at the new wanted list that had appeared after the King’s announcement. He and Screwloose had already finished reading the message the King sent them. In that message was some important information regarding the new Sirens. He then called someone to come to his office. The person was some distance away so he decided that he would look at the new wanted list in the meantime. Screwloose had pulled up a chair beside him and was looking with him. The first person on the wanted list was Maya. Even though he knew who that was he wanted to read the information. It said:

** Wanted **

**_Alive_ **

**Maya**

**Reason: assault on the King, murder, disturbing the peace, and betrayal**

**Maya is a Siren. She is able to stop you from moving, throw orbs of energy, telekinesis, flight, and has a magical weapon. She is extremely dangerous. If seen do not engage. Call instead.**

**Reward: $1,000,000,000**

 That was a lot of money to place on a single Siren in Diesel’s opinion. To be fair she was the Queen of Elpis. He most likely wasn’t going to engage her. Both cyborgs said nothing about the poster. He scrolled down to see the next poster. The next poster was a picture of a young man with short blonde hair and a goatee. What caught Diesel eye was the eye patch the guy wore over his left eye. The other eye was blue. Diesel looked at the information on the wanted poster. It said:

** Wanted **

**_Alive_ **

**August**

**Reason: conspiracy, theft, murder, and treason**

**August is a young man. He is armed with deadly weapons and knows slight skills in hand to hand combat.**

**Reward: $450,000,000**

 

“Do you think this guy’s a pirate?” Screwloose asked curiously.

“No.” Diesel answered. “He’s a bandit.”

“Oh.” Screwloose said loudly. “So, he’s a bandit pirate.” Diesel mentally facepalmed at his friend’s comment.

“No, I mean he is just a bandit with an eyepatch.” He looked over the information again. “Who somehow managed to commit treason!” his tone held slight disbelief. “Remember we can’t under estimate any of these people. Got it?” he looked at Screwloose. He replied with an energetic ‘yes sir’. Diesel scrolled down once again to see the next poster. It had a middle-aged man with hazel eyes and very short dirty blonde hair. The information read:

** Wanted **

**_Dead_ **

**Grant**

**Reason: man-slaughter and Treason**

**Grant is a former Corporal in the Lunar Guard. Kill on sight.**

**Reward: $400,000**

“A member of the Lunar Guard not surprising.” Diesel muttered and gave a slight nod. Screwloose nodded with him. Diesel scrolled down again. This poster seemed to have an edited picture of a young man with short dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. He wore a brown cap on his head. It read:

** Wanted **

**_Dead_ **

**Junior**

**Reason: jail break, man-slaughter, conspiracy and treason**

**Junior is not a physical threat. Kill on sight.**

**Reward: $300,000**

“Do you think this guy is tough?” Screwloose asked.

“You never know for sure.” Diesel answered and scrolled down. The next poster had teenage girl with short rugged brown hair tied back with brown eyes. The information read:

** Wanted **

**_Alive_ **

**Teresa**

**Reason: Conspiracy and Treason**

**Teresa is a sixteen-year-old girl. She is armed and skilled with a sword.**

**Reward: $70,000,000**

“Sixteen-years-old. Now that is something.” Diesel said amazed. It was surprising that someone at that age could commit treason.

“Someone my age!” Screwloose said with a smile. “That’s so cool!” Diesel gave a small smile, at his friend’s excitement and continued to scroll down. He was near the end of the list. His eyes widened as he saw the poster. The poster had a female teenager with long light magenta hair and strange purple-colored eyes. She had the same color purple tattoos along the left side of her body. The information read:

** Wanted **

**_Alive_ **

**Twilight**

**Reason: jail break, conspiracy, and treason**

**Twilight is a seventeen-year-old Siren. She is able to throw orbs of energy. Use caution.**

**Reward: $100,000,000**

“Would you look at that.” Diesel said astonished. “I bet this is the Siren that got away all those years ago.” Beside him Screwloose made a confused face.

“What Siren? There’s only the Royals”

“Oh, right you didn’t know.” Diesel said quietly.

“What don’t I know?” Diesel looked at his friend and sighed.

“Well, ten years ago there was a small town on Pandora. The King had suspected that there was a child Siren in the town. I know you know the King’s rule about other Sirens.” Screwloose gave a nod. “He asked the town’s people where the Siren ways. No one said anything. Since he didn’t know where the Siren was he…” the next part was hard to tell.

“Then what happened?” the younger cyborg nudged the older one. “Come on Dez don’t leave me in suspense!”

“Well, he ordered everyone under ten years old to death. It didn’t turn out too well. During the process, the people retaliated which caused a fight between the civilians and the imperial guards. In the end, everybody in the town was killed and the Siren escaped.” Diesel saw Screwloose’s smile fade. He knew the younger cyborg had no problem killing a bandit or an enemy without batting an eye, but he had a soft spot for children. Screwloose was silent for a moment.

“Well, that’s depressing.” He said bluntly. “What the King did… does that make him bad?” Diesel’s eyes widened.

“Of course, it doesn’t! It’s just that he thought that… it was the best thing to do.” He sounded a bit uncertain. Screwloose looked at Diesel and gave a weak smile.

“If you say so Dez.”

Diesel sighed and scrolled down for the last time. He was surprised at what he saw. The poster had person or alien thing in black armor with a ‘0’ on the person’s chest. The information read:

** Wanted **

**_Alive_ **

**Zer0**

**Reason: arson, theft, murder, conspiracy, assault on the King, and treason**

**Zer0 is not human. He is a trained assassin and armed with a sword. Use extreme caution.**

**Reward: $650,000,000**

“This guy actually looks like a ninja assassin.” Screwloose commented. “Like from those old action movies.” He made a chop motion with his flesh hand. Diesel was happy to see the young cyborg still be energetic, even after the grave news he just heard. He also thought he kind of looked like a ninja though he didn’t say it aloud. He was more focused on the fact that Zer0 had fought the King and lived to tell the tale. Before they could comment further the doors to his office opened. Diesel and Screwloose looked over the screen to see a man walking in.

“Oh, look Pete’s here.” Screwloose exclaimed. “Hi Pete!” he waved to the man. The man didn’t wave back. Diesel turned off his computer screen and rested his elbows on the desk. The man took his time to walk up the stairs. The man was wearing glasses and a white lab coat. He had a bored expression on his face.

“What do you need sir?” his tone was low.

“Well, Peter I called you here to talk about our current situation obviously.” Peter rolled his eyes. “The way he announced the problems is causing people to panic.”

“What do you want me to do about it? I’m a doctor.” He pushed up his glasses.

“You also play as vice president. They’ll listen to you.” Peter narrowed his eyes.

“May I ask why can’t you do it, Mr. CEO?”

“I can’t do it because Freya’s coming in a short while to meet with me. Now go.”

“Fine.” Peter grumbled. He turned and began to walk away. After he walked a couple of steps he stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Please don’t call me Peter.

It’s _Doctor Tannis_.”

* * *

Teresa held on to her sword with a crystal handle and an iron blade. She held it out the way Maya had taught her to. By now it was noon. The sun’s rays poured down on them. Teresa hate towards Maya had been extinguished. Maya’s apologies and story, along with Fiona’s words had convinced her not to hate Maya. The hatred she had had for Maya had come from Angel’s death. She wasn’t very close to Angel. More like she met her a few times and Angel had called her a ‘friend’, but she didn’t have to be to feel miserable about the Siren’s death.

Angel had been a savior to everyone in Sanctuary. She proved that she had the power to defeat undefeatable foes. When the King tore her wings off did she give up? No, she didn’t. She got right back up and continued to fight for Sanctuary.

Angel was a _hero_.

She was Teresa’s hero. She thought without Angel they would lose. She was right. The year Angel died was the year they got trapped in a Vault.

She had felt it was Maya’s fault for why they lost. Maya had killed the hero. That made her the _villain_. That was until Teresa learned that her hero didn’t act like a hero. She didn’t know all Angel did. What she did know about Angel however painted a picture of a ruthless murderer rather than a benevolent hero. It was sad that someone with a goal to save lives, ended up killing more lives. Teresa forgave Maya for her actions; though she didn’t tell her.

“Okay now that I taught you the basics,” Maya said, “now we can get to sparing.” She was standing across from Teresa. She had Grant’s blue sword in her hands. “Remember Sparta will be faster and more agile than you, even without her wings materialized.” She then pointed her sword at Teresa. Teresa did the same to Maya with her sword. “Ready?”

Despite not being ready Teresa gave a small nod. Maya lunged forward at an unnatural speed. Teresa barely had any time to raise her sword to block the attack. Maya’s attacks came faster and faster to the point Teresa was backing up. It didn’t help that Maya towered over the teen. Amidst the clashing swords Maya’s fist was able to blur past and hit Teresa in the chest. The blow wasn’t hard enough to cause internal damage, but it was enough to send Teresa on her back.

_“Maya 1, Teresa 0.”_ She thought in her head. Her eyes widened as she saw Maya swinging down at her. She quickly rolled to the side and Maya’s strike struck dirt. Teresa got back to her feet. Maya looked at her and grinned. With a thought, her blue wings materialized. Teresa’s eyes widened. Normally the Siren’s wings gave her a goddess appearance that was to be adored, but when she was in battle mode it made her look more threatening.

She flapped her wings and took to the air. This time she attacked Teresa from above. Teresa had to angle her sword so she could block the strike from above. She had to continue to fight at an angle. Maya then pushed her sword against Teresa’s. Teresa tried her best to stand her ground, but she was being pushed back by Maya’s superior strength. She tried to punch Teresa again; this time in the face. Teresa saw this coming and ducked. She was getting upset at this point.

She pushed against the Siren’s sword harder this time. When Maya’s sword was pushed back enough, Teresa rolled underneath her. She quickly got back to her feet and faced Maya. Maya was in the process of turning around. Teresa took this advantage to stab Maya in the back. She grunted and landed on the ground on her feet. Her wings were still on her back.  Teresa quickly took a step back and smiled.

_“Maya 1, Teresa 1.”_ Maya looked over her shoulder at Teresa. What happened next was a blur to Teresa. A single motion, pain, and her on the ground again with a deep cut on the same cheek with a band aid. Her sword landed out of reach She hissed at the pain the cut brought. She put a hand to her cheek; there was a warm liquid over it. She brought her hand back and looked at it; her palm was covered in blood. She looked up to see Maya standing over her with a smirk on her face.

“Maya 2, Teresa 1.” She said still smirking. Teresa had a confused expression.

“How did you know I was keeping score?” she gasped. “Can you read my mind with your Siren powers?” The Siren laughed at that.

“No, I can’t read minds. I could tell you were keeping score because you said it out loud.” Teresa facepalmed. “You’re not going to win if don’t know when to dodge.” Teresa made an unhappy face.

“Well, sorry if I didn’t see the blur that came at my face.”

“You’re going to have to think ahead so, you have time dodge attacks. Especially when those attacks are coming at you at super speed.” She held out her hand for Teresa to take.

“Fine.” Teresa grumbled. She grabbed the Siren’s hand and got pulled to her feet. She brushed off invisible dirt of her and bent down to grab her sword. As soon as she got up she saw a blur coming at her. She quickly brought up her sword. Maya’s sword struck against Teresa’s. The Siren tried to punch Teresa in the face who ducked under the strike. Teresa jumped back. A proud smile was across her face. She moved into a stance and angled her sword battle ready. Maya lunged once more. Teresa’s training was just beginning.

* * *

Diesel watched as Freya strutted into his office. Two imperial guards followed in behind her. She had the posture of a Royal and the expression of a soldier. Her eyes scanned intently around the huge office. When her gaze fell upon the two cyborgs the younger one cringed slightly. A small smile formed on her lips and she began to walk to the desk. The guards didn’t follow. Diesel watched as Freya walked up the steps to his desk. Not once did he see her posture falter. As she made it to the desk she looked at the cyborgs with pure white irises. No one talked for a moment, even Screwloose didn’t say anything. Diesel cleared his throat.

“Freya it’s nice to see you this afternoon. How has your day been?” He tried his best to keep his voice even. Freya eyes intensified and her small smile faded away as she said:

“Diesel, why art thou interested in how my day hast been?” She didn’t speak in modern English.

He didn’t exactly know why she spoke like that and had thought she wasn’t caught up in modern day English. He learned that she knew modern English, but chose to speak the old way. At first, he had a hard time understanding her, but it didn’t take long for him to learn. He gave a weak smile towards her.

“I was just wondering how you were feeling about everything that’s going on.” She raised an eyebrow.

“Well, if thou must know, my day hast been most exhilarating. How hast thine day been?” she said the last part with slight announce.

“Well, my day has been-“

“I dost not care how thine day hast been.” she had not yelled, but her volume was louder than necessary. Diesel internally rolled his eyes.

“Sorry for asking. What do you want?”

“I came here for multiple reasons. For one I needed to see how Helios was doing after the King’s announcement. Thine employees dost not taketh the information well. They run around like it’s the end of the world. Most people would have calmed down by now. It’s pathetic.” The CEO glared at her. She ignored it. “Secondly, King Rhys wanted me to give this to you.”

She reached underneath her white cloak and pulled out a small metal cube. She placed it on the desk. Screwloose looked at it with wide eyes and reached out to grab it. Freya slapped his hand before he could grab. He gave a small yelp and retreated his hand. He gently rubbed his flesh hand with his mechanical and glared at her. She glared back.

“It is not for thee. It is for him.” She gestured to Diesel. The CEO reached out his mechanical hand and grabbed the cube. He brought it in front of him and inspected it with heterochromatic eyes. “What is this?” he asked still looking at the cube.

“King Rhys told me that the cube contained information pertaining to the prototype thou hast been working on.” Both cyborgs eyes filled with excitement. The prototype, the head engineer team were working on was a new type of robot that could perform multiple fighting styles. They were two thirds done with the first prototype.

Diesel brought his computer screen back up. The home screen was a picture of him and Screwloose along with their friends. He brought the cube up to the computer scanner. Once the computer finished scanning the cube new information about the prototype popped up. He smiled as he looked over the final parts to finish the prototype.

“King Rhys,” Freya continued, “put together the final parts of the prototype so thou may finish the project sooner rather than later.”

“I need to thank him for this.” The CEO said amazed. “How did he do this so quickly?”

“He is the most powerful being in the entire universe. Finishing a prototype forth a machine is something simple compared to the other acts he does.”

“Oh… right.” He looked back at the information. He sometimes forgot how powerful his King could be. “Why didn’t he help us before? If he could finish the prototype in a day it would have been easier on my engineers.” He looked back at Freya

“Because it was thine job not the King’s.”

“Then why-“

“What thee dost not get, cyborg,” Freya interrupted him, “is that all of thine projects thou do, are _beneath_ our king. He has bigger matters to deal with than a ridiculous prototype or the thoughts of a weak cyborg.” Those words hurt Diesel. In his mind, he thought Rhys cared about everything he did. He didn’t believe Freya’s words, but the thought of Rhys not caring about him floated around in his head. Screwloose made no comment. “The only reason the King finished thine prototype was so that he hadith another weapon that he could use to defeat the new enemy.” Freya paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing,

“The last reason I came here was to cometh and collect thou,” she pointed a finger at Diesel, “for a group meeting with the other CEOs, leaders, and Royals at Castle Siren.” Screwloose gave a smile at this; knowing what it was leading to.

“I see.” Diesel said. “Well, then we must get going.” Screwloose’s smile widened and he twiddled his thumbs together.

“Yes, but who wilt lead while thou are gone?” she asked. Screwloose was practically vibrating in his seat at this point. Diesel sighed and stood up from his seat. He slowly turned his gaze to look down at the excited teenage cyborg.

“Screwloose would you ta-“ Diesel didn’t get to finish his sentence.

“I would _love_ to be in charge while you’re gone, Dez!” Screwloose shouted; jumping up from his seat.

“Good.” Diesel said; walking from around the desk to stand next to Freya. She raised a black eyebrow. “What?” Diesel asked. She huffed and turned to walk towards the exit. He looked back at Screwloose. “While I’m gone can you give the new information to Peter so he can finish the prototype.”

“Can do sir!” the cyborg said giving a salute. “Helios is safe under the watch of Screwloose!” Diesel smiled. He turned around and began to walk towards the door. When he made it to the bottom of the stairs he heard the clatter of objects hitting metal. He spun around and saw his cup of pens and pencils turned on its side with the pens and pencils scattered all over the desk. He glared at Screwloose. The teenager gave a nervous laugh.

“Just a little mishap.” He gave a nervous smile and begun to collect the pens and pencils. Diesel rolled his eyes and continued to walk towards the door. He knew Screwloose would most likely act up while he was gone. He just hoped Screwloose didn’t blow up Helios before he was able to get back.

* * *

Twilight’s heart thumped in her chest; faster and harder than ever before. Her palms were sweaty and her throat was dry. She took deep breaths to try and calm her racing heart.

_“Calm down Twilight.”_ She said to herself in her head. _“There’s no need to be so nervous. It’s just the day you’ve been waiting for_ _most of your life.”_ It was afternoon in the oasis. The sky was a beautiful orange and the clouds were darkened by the low light. Maya stood across from Twilight not so far away. Maya wasn’t in a fighting stance nor was she holding a weapon. Her body was relaxed and she let her hair down. She met Twilight’s nervous eyes and gave a gentle smile.

“There’s no reason to be nervous Twilight. I’m just going to help you with your Siren powers… Also, how to fight Freya.” Twilight took in another deep breath. She turned her head to look at her allies.

They were all sitting down. Grant and Zer0 had stopped sparing to watch the older Siren teach the younger Siren. Twilight looked over the different smiling faces. Even Zer0 had a red smiley face on his helmet. The one that stood out the most was Teresa’s. Her smile was comforting and soft. It was different from the smiles Twilight saw Teresa made. This smile was just for her. She took another deep breath and she could feel her heart slowing down. She looked back at Maya.

“I’m ready.” She said strongly. Maya was happy to see Twilight calming down.

“Good. Okay to start with I’m going to tell you the differences between energy, power, abilities, and magic. Energy is how much a Siren can use their abilities before they can’t use their powers for a certain amount of time. Think of it like a Siren’s battery. Energy can also give to power, but that will lead to a Siren’s energy running out faster. A Siren’s energy progresses with their age. The older the Siren the longer they can use their abilities without getting tired. Even though I’m over two hundred years old I have limit to my energy. You got that?” Twilight gave a nod.

“Power is how much force a Siren’s attack have. Meaning if you threw a normal power orb at a person,” she gestured to Twilight, “it would most likely give them two or third-degree burns, send them back, and they would most likely survive. If I did a normal power orb on a person I would blow up some of their body, send them flying back and they most likely wouldn’t survive. A Siren’s power progress with their age. The older the Siren the stronger their attacks are.

“A Siren’s ability is what they can do with their power and energy. Besides my special ability, I’m able to telekinetically lift things, heal at a high rate, and regenerate, throw power orbs, throw waves of force, fly, form shields, summon a blade, and do various things with it. My special ability is Phaselock. Normally my Phaselock ability locks things in energy from another dimension, but I’ve been working on my ability over the years.

“Now if I focus and put enough power into it I’m able to use the dimensional energy to create a blackhole.” Twilight’s eyes widened at this. Maya gave a small smile. “Those are the things I can do, but some Sirens can do more. An example is… _was_ Lilith. She had a special ability that she called Phasewalk. She was able to teleport and walk through different dimensions at will. She was class terra and was able to summon fire as well as use fire in her attacks.” She sighed as she remembered the powerful Siren. She wished she could have spent more time with Lilith before she was killed.

 “Maya can I ask you a question?” Twilight asked.

“Sure.”

“How will I get my special ability?”

“Well, you don’t get it. It will just naturally come to you. Like mine did.”

“How will I know that it’s my special ability and not a new normal ability?”

“Trust me when I say, you will know when it’s your special ability. The last thing I’m going to tell you about Sirens is their magic.” This got Twilight excited. “Magic is… how do I explain this?” she paused trying to find a way to define magic. “Magic is a Sirens ability to cast spells and change reality. Magic, itself is almost limitless.” Twilight internally fist bumped. “Castor Sirens have the most magic in them. Terra Sirens also have magic though not as much as Castors. Tempests barely have any magic. I’m, sorry Twilight I’m not going to be able to teach you magic.” Twilight was put down by this, but the fact that she could someday learn how to use magic kept her excited.

“It’s okay you can still teach me other stuff.”

“Right. Okay first were going to start with the basics; a shield. Shields are the basic way a Siren can block an attack.” Her tattoos glowed as she held out her hands. A square sheet of blue transparent energy formed in front of her. “Throw a power orb at me.” Twilight nodded. Her tattoos lit up eridium purple and she lifted her hand. A power orb formed in her hand. She winded her hand back before chucking the orb at Maya. The orb sailed through the air towards Maya. There was a loud boom as the orb struck the shield and exploded. The shield didn’t waver, shake, or crack. Twilight looked at the shield in amazement.

“See.” Maya said as her shield dissolved. “Now to create a shield you need to focus your energy in front of you.” She held out her hands and her tattoos glowed softly. A blue spark of energy formed in front of her. “Now feel your energy and shape it into flat surface.” The blue spark solidified and flattened out in front of her as a small square sheet off energy. “Depending on how much energy and power you put into your shield depends on how strong it is.” She relaxed her arms and her shield dissolved. She put her hands on her hips and smiled. “Now you try.” Twilight looked at the older Siren with wide eyes. She blinked a couple of times and then shook her shoulders.

_“Okay Twilight.”_ The younger Siren thought to herself as she lifted her hands in front of her. _“Just relax and focus on your energy.”_ She let out a breath and let her Siren energy flow through her body. Her tattoos glowed softly in the afternoon sun. She tried to center on her energy. She tried to feel for that certain buzz she got when she used her powers. She felt a shock of energy go through her body. At the same time, a spark of eridium colored energy flashed in front of her before disappearing.

“That’s it!” Maya encouraged the younger Siren. “Keep going.” Twilight did. She kept on feeling for her energy. It would come in shocks that would warm her body. She focused on her energy more to the point where the energy shocked through her body like a light bulb flickering on and off. The spark of energy in front of her mimicked the shocks going through her body. She closed her eyes and tried to hold on to the energy instead of letting it slip away.

The next shock of energy that came through her body she tried her best to hold on to it. It was too fast to hold. She put more energy into her body. Sweat began to form on her forehead. The shocks of energy lasted longer and so did the spark. She tried to hold onto her energy again. When the shock went through her body she held onto the feeling of warmth and power. The energy stayed for longer this time before slipping away.

_“C’mon Twi! Your almost there! Just a little further.”_ The energy stayed with her; only going away for a few moments before returning. She let out a deep breath and _grabbed_ onto her energy. It stayed with her _completely_. The energy flowed through her body and she felt warm inside. She felt the warmth and power coming from the spark in front of her. The intensity of her power was nothing compared to Maya or the King’s power, but it was nice to feel her energy going through her body.

The warmth in front of her suddenly increased and so did the light. Ever through her closed eyes she could see the veins in her eyelids. She opened her eyes to see what was happening. Her eyes widened in terror. Maya had thrown a power orb at her. Twilight hadn’t formed a shield to protect herself. Her instincts kicked in. The need to protect herself formed the spark in front of her into an eridium purple square shield. The shield wasn’t big or strong, but it was something.

The orb collided with Twilight’s shield. Her shield shattered. Even though it absorbed a small amount of the orb’s power it still hit her with high force. She was sent off her feet and flew backwards. She heard her name being yelled as she hit the ground. She landed on her back and the wind was knocked out of her. Her chest hurt and she had scraps on her elbows. The energy that had flowed freely through her was gone. She coughed and raised a shaky hand to her chest. She immediately retracted her hand from her chest as she felt a stinging pain. She realized that her chest had been burned by the explosion. She rested her head on the grass and started taking in deep breaths.

“Oh my god!” she heard Teresa shout. “Are you okay?!” Twilight was burnt, scraped, aching, and just got blasted in the chest. Besides that, she was still alive and counted that as being okay. She lifted her tattooed hand and gave a thumb up. She painfully sat up and looked down at her chest. There were small burn marks up and down her chest. Even though the skin was burned the tattoos somehow still showed.

“That was good Twilight.” The older Siren said sounding as if Twilight hadn’t been blasted across the field. “You conjured that shield just in time.” Twilight looked at the other Siren confused.

“I did?” she said with slight pain in her voice. “Didn’t you just see me get blasted and burned?”

“Of course, you got burned Twilight; that was what I was trying to do.” Twilight gave a small frown. Maya chuckled. “Just because you’re just learning how to use new abilities doesn’t mean I’m going easy on you.” She didn’t go easy on anyone today. The cuts and small bruises on August and Teresa were proof to that. Twilight wasn’t an exception. “Now get up. We’re moving on to the next thing.” Twilight slowly and painfully worked her body to stand. She looked down at the burns across her chest. She wondered how long it would take her heal. “No need to worry about those burns.” She looked up and at the older Siren that had spoken. “They’ll heal faster than you think. Now I’m going to go over telekinesis. Telekinesis is a Siren’s ability to lift objects with their mind.”

She her gaze looked over the grassy field. Her eyes landed on a small stone. She smiled and held out her hand. Her tattoos glowed once more and the stone of encompassed in a blue aura. Twilight looked on in fascination. Maya gestured her hand towards herself and the stone was lifted off the ground and floated towards her. The stone stayed aloft in front of Maya as she spoke:

“I can lift something as small as a stone or something bigger.” The entire world was tinted blue for Twilight as Maya grabbed her with her telekinesis. Twilight felt her feet leave the ground as she went up. She was suspended high above the ground. She could barely move her body and her muscles tingled in Maya’s magical aura. After a few seconds of being suspended she was gently lowered to the ground. Maya let go Twilight as her feet touched the ground.

“While something is in a Siren’s telekinesis it can be manipulated by the Siren.” Maya clenched her tattooed hand making a fist. Loud crunching sounds were heard as the Siren crushed the stone into small pebbles in her telekinesis. She flicked the mass of pebbles and they scattered across the grass.  “The main rule of telekinesis is that once something is in a Siren’s telekinesis another Siren can’t take it in theirs. To use telekinesis just focus on an object and reach out your aura to grab it. The last thing is-“

“Wait!” Twilight interrupted Maya before she could finish speaking.

“What’s the matter Twilight?”

“The matter being you’re not going to give me a chance to try telekinesis.”

“Nope.” Was the older Siren’s quick reply.

“Why?”

“Because I want to see how you figure it out in combat.” Twilight’s eyes widened.

“Combat?”

“Combat. Now what I want to explain to you before we spare is a Siren’s blade. Blades were the weapon ancient Siren’s used in combat. A blade is a Siren’s energy, power, and _soul_ put into a weapon. Depending on the Siren depends how their blade will be. A blade is one of a Siren’s most powerful weapon. It’s easy to cast and can do several things.” She held out her hand and her tattoos glowed once more.

 A long shaft of blue energy formed in her hand. It was as long as her leg. The shaft of energy had the same colors and flowed as her Phaselock with a violet center. “This is my blade, _Vehement_.” She twirled it around while they all watched in amazement. “I’m telling you this because Freya has a blade, but not a soul blade like Sirens. Hers is made of fourteen shards of titanium. Along with her blade she is able to use telekinesis and magic.

“She uses all three when she fights. There is a spell that protects yourself or someone else from someone else’s telekinesis. Thankfully I know that spell so, you don’t need to worry about being pulled apart by her telekinesis.” She let go of her blade and split it into sixteen parts. The blade motes fanned out in front of her.

“Now, were going to start simple. Dodge my blade and try to hit me with anything you got. Ready?” Twilight wiped the sweat of her brow and gulped. She gave a weak nod getting ready to leap out of the way of Maya’s attack. “Great.” Maya sent _Vehement’s_ motes forward with a motion of her hand.

* * *

Diesel looked around the big round table and the people in its chairs. The official meeting hadn’t started yet because two people there yet; the King and Sin. The people that were there were himself, the CEOs of Triton and Atlas; Hunter and Hera, the three inhumans, Orion, Sparta, and Freya, and the two new Siren rulers; Marta and Empyrean.

Diesel sat with Hera on his right and Marta on his left. Next to Hera was Hunter then Orion, Sparta, and Freya. The seat to her right was empty. On the other side of the empty seat sat Empyrean. In between Empyrean and Marta was an empty seat. While the humans and inhumans sat in metal chairs the royal Sirens sat in bigger seats because of their size.

Empyrean was looking shyly around at the others. She didn’t radiate confidence and power like her father did. She actually had the composure of a child rather than a royal Siren. It was strange for Diesel to see her like that because she was as tall as her father and looked _almost_ as powerful as him. Her tattoos didn’t have an everlasting glow like her father’s. That was another thing. She was the King’s daughter. He didn’t know how that was possible. He had thought that Marta could have been the mom.

Marta was _terrifying_. It wasn’t like how he felt around the King, but rather her appearance is what made her terrifying. She looked like she came right out a vampire horror movie and the way she looked at the boys in the room. He was the only one who seemed to notice Marta’s gaze. He realized the reason no one else noticed was because they were too busy yelling at each other.

“She wouldn’t do something like that!” Hera exclaimed at Sparta. The Atlas CEO had her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face. “Why would she suddenly attack the King without _good_ reason?”

“The reason is that she thinks she can over power the King!” Across from Hera the aries warrior fumed. “She _wants_ to take the Kings crown! How can you not see that?”

“I can’t see it because I’m not as messed up as you! Unlike you I can see that somethings wrong here.”

“Oh, somethings wrong here alright!” Diesel watched as the two bickered; not amused or entertained. He looked at the others. Hunter had his hat tilted down and his feet propped up on the table. He was clearly entertained by the argument. Orion wasn’t saying his opinion, but from his facial expressions he sided with Sparta. Freya… well it was hard to tell what she was feeling sometimes. Her expression was emotionless, but her eyes seemed to be glaring at Hera.

“Oh really!” Hera shouted. “The only reason I see you thinking that is because you think you’re the King’s friend when you’re really just another pawn for the King to use. He doesn’t care for anyone in his domain and that includes you, you winged moron!” Sparta stood up from her seat and slammed her hands onto the marble table. Diesel and Empyrean flinched at the warrior’s action, Hunter’s smile widened, Marta was at the edge of her seat, Orion’s eyes widened, Freya raised an eyebrow, and Hera kept her stone expression. Sparta eyes glared daggers at the CEO of Atlas.

“Is that how it’s going to be?! Fine! You’re not as close to Maya as you think, Atlas. Maya has gone through many Atlas CEOs your no different. I saw how she treated the other CEOs with false kindness. You’re stupid enough to fall for her lies! Why do you think you’re were down here on Pandora and not on the base on Elpis?!” Hera’s eyes narrowed, but besides that she didn’t change her expression. This ticked off Sparta more.

“Just because Maya picked you up from that orphanage years ago doesn’t mean she _loves_ you!” Sparta had struck a nerve. Hera didn’t like talking about her time in the orphanage and she was sensitive about her and Maya’s mother daughter relationship. Hera instantly stood up and got up in Sparta’s face.

“Why you-“ before Hera could finish screaming  Diesel grabbed her and pulled her back down. Orion did the same for Sparta.

“Aw, it was just getting good!” Hunter said disappointed.

“Hunter!” Diesel said trying to hold back an infuriated Hera. “You’re not helping.”

“Not trying.”

“Hera calm down she’s just trying to get under your skin.”

“Oh, yeah.” Hera sneered. “When I go under her skin I’ll make sure to hit bone!” She was trying to get out of the cyborgs grasp and failing.

“Your welcome to try!” Sparta shouted struggling against Orion’s grip and failing also. Diesel looked around for something to try and change the topic. His eyes landed on the two Sirens.

“Instead of arguing,” he said as he firmly pushed Hera down in her seat; using his mechanical arm for extra force, “we should get to know our new Royals.” Hera looked at the cyborg. Her hard gaze met his soft look and she sighed. He let go of her and she crossed her arms over her chest. She gave one quick glance at Sparta, who had also calmed down, and looked at the two Sirens at the front of the circle.

“Empyrean, was it your highness?” she asked. The Siren looked slightly shocked at the mention of her name.

“M-me? I mean yes.” She stuttered at first, but quickly corrected herself.

“So…” Hera didn’t know what to say next.

“So, were the hell did you come from? You just came out of nowhere and said you were the King’s daughter.” Hunter said bluntly. Hera promptly smacked him in the head. Empyrean nervously twiddled her thumbs together.

“Well, I don’t know for sure, but my father told me that-“

“Rhys _created_ her from energy and magic.” Marta interrupted Empyrean. Even her voice had that horror movie sound. “So, if you’re wondering if I’m her mom I’m not, sadly. I would have loved to mother this,” she leaned over and roughly squeezed Empyrean’s cheek, “this little flame.” She let go of the poor Siren’s cheek who rubbed it afterwards.  

“Isn’t that… nice.” Diesel said awkwardly. Marta turned to face him and a sly smile formed on her face.

“Oh, look at you! The cybernetic CEO of Hyperion. Diesel, right? Oh, Rhys told me so much about you?” Despite her unnerving voice Diesel beamed at knowing his King talked about him.

“Really? What did he say your highness?”

“Well, I really shouldn’t say, but one thing he told me was that you were the easiest to manipulate.” Diesel’s eyes widened and Hunter gave a loud chuckle.

“What?”

“Um hey, your highness I have a question?” Hera said before Marta could respond. The Siren fixed her gaze to look at Hera.

“Yes.”

“I was actually talking to the Princess, your majesty.” She gestured to said princess.

“Of course, you were.” Marta grumbled and relaxed back in her chair.

“What do you want to ask me?” Empyrean’s soft voice asked.

“I was wondering what it’s like to be the King’s daughter?”

“Well, I haven’t been his daughter for long, but he’s pretty cool. Sure, he can be scary at times, but he is a great leader.  He gave me pointers of how to lead a kingdom. He makes it seem so easy. He can do anything. I want to be _just like him_ when in I get older.” When she spoke, she sounded like an excited child getting a present.

“Just like him huh?” Hunter said. “Does that mean you’ll be late to every meeting you go to?” he said with a grin.

“ _No._ ” everybody froze at the voice of their king. They all looked behind the two Sirens to see the King with Sin standing next to him. Hunter quickly put his feet off the table and tilted his hat up.

“Excuse me your highness.” He said nervously. “I was just joking. I didn’t mean anything by it.” The others had straightened up and used their best composure. Even Marta and Empyrean put on a royal demeaner. Rhys glared at Hunter.

“I sure hope it was, your life depends on it.” He threatened; Hunter sunk slightly in his seat. Rhys looked down at Sin who looked up at him with unblinking eyes.

“Sit.” As soon as the command left the Siren’s mouth Sin was walking to his chair to seat in between Freya and Empyrean. Rhys quickly strode over and sat in his huge seat. He looked at Empyrean.

“Know this daughter, when you organize a meeting it doesn’t start until you get there. Got it?”

“Yes, father.” She quickly replied. He smiled.

“Perfect. Now I called this meeting because there are going to be some changes. Since Maya has gone rouge along with her group of ‘friends’, Elpis is now going to be over the rule of Princess Empyrean. Marta is going to take place as Queen, here with me on Pandora. Although she will be on Elpis for a while to help the Princess.” He looked around to see any disagreeing faces. There were none; he continued.

“There are also going to be some changes to the armies. First of all, there will be one generals for both of the armies of Pandora and Elpis.” He looked at the three inhumans. “The rank of General will go to Freya.” Freya did nothing to hide the smile that spread across her face.

“Of course, your highness.” She said in a smooth yet pleased voice

“Orion, you will take place as Lieutenant.”

“Yes, your majesty.” Since he was being demoted down a rank his reply wasn’t as happy as Freya’s.

“And Sparta you will take place as Major.”

“Yes, your highness.” Sparta’s reply wasn’t sad or happy, but energetic.

“Orion and Sparta will be on Pandora with me. Freya you’ll be on Elpis to make sure the inhabits are in order. You three got that?” he was answered with a trio of voices saying, ‘yes your highness’. He continued:

“Good. Now to the CEOs.” He moved his gaze to look at the three CEOs. “I’m going to take a risk and trust you Diesel,” he stopped his eyes on the other cyborg, “to use and keep something very dangerous and powerful. You’ll need it for what I have planned. Can I trust you?”

“Of, course you can, your highness.” Excitement built up in his chest as he looked up to his King. “May I ask what the something is?” A wicked smile formed on his face.

“A device that is able to _control_ other Sirens.”

* * *

The group of friends sat under the moonlight in the field. After a day of vigorous training they decided to relax and play a few quiet games while Maya composed herself. She was out of sight as she dressed in to comfortable cloths. She had done her best to train Teresa and August. Their training wasn’t complete, but she taught them the basic so they didn’t get killed in the first battle. She had also gotten to know them better. They weren’t nearly as mad as she had thought them to be. That just showed how kind hearted the saviors were. _Saviors_.

She hadn’t known a lot about Fiona, but she knew one thing. She had known some of the most ancient stuff. If she said that these Vault Hunters were indeed saviors she was most likely right. Maya didn’t know where Fiona came from. She just popped up from nowhere and Maya say her talking to Lilith in secret the day before Sanctuary fell. She was kind of like that Eridian creature that appeared that onetime Sanctuary was under attack. Lilith sure had known the most powerful of beings. 

Sure, the saviors had been great, but the highlight of her day had been teaching Twilight how to use her Siren abilities. The young Siren hadn’t been able to find her special ability, but she learned how to use shields and telekinesis. Even though both were not strong it was a step forward for Twilight to get a grip on all of her abilities. And someday find her special ability. It had brought her back to the golden days when she was out training her daughters how to use their powers. She had loved being a mother.

She finally put her crown on her head; the last part of her outfit. She turned around and walked back to the group. The group now was sitting in a semi-circle with their backs to her.

“Looks like you all are ready for tonight’s story time.” She said as she walked in front of them. They were slightly startled by the sound of her voice, but quickly calmed down. Maya sat cross legged on the grass in front of them. She could see how excited they were to hear her story.

“Tonight, I’m going to tell you about my time on Elpis. More specifically how I conquered it. It will be one out of my many huge achievements.”


End file.
